Shinobi's Creed
by Leaf Ranger
Summary: I was alone. Alone and hated in my village. Until my mentor found me. Until he trained me. And he taught me a valuable lesson. That Nothing is True, and Everything is Permitted. Who am I? I am Naruto Uzumaki. And I'm an Assassin. NaruHina, OCAnko. Rated M for blood, language, and hinted sexual situations. Some Kakashi, Jiraiya, and possibly Sasuke bashing, and Hyuuga clan bashing.
1. A New World

**And here it is! My NarutoxAssassin's creed fanfic! Oh I've been thinking of doing one of these ever since I played and beat Assassin's Creed! Which was like four years ago, I think. Maybe less.**

**But anyways, here it is! I hope that you all enjoy it! I am a little nervous about this, because I really wanted to do this idea, and I'm scared of either screwing it up or you all not liking it. But I guess we'll see!**

**Now before anyone asks, no this story won't feature Altair, Ezio, or Conner in any great detail. The main reason why not is because I want to try and make this story a little unique in comparison to other NarutoxAssassin's Creed fanfics I've seen thus far. And most of them feature Naruto learning from either Ezio or Altair. Throwing Conner in would be similar to using one of them.**

**Anyways, enough about that. Let's get on with the show!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Assassin's Creed in anyway. They are the properties of Masashi Kishimoto, and Ubisoft.

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**Chapter 1**

**A New World**

_Paris, France 1507_

The full moon in the sky lit up the quiet streets of Paris. A few people were about the streets, most of them being the city guard. The few who weren't were courtesans plying their trade, or men and women stumbling home drunk from the taverns they had been populating.

Near the great cathedral of Notre Dame, a man dressed in somewhat regal clothing was making his way towards the cathedral. He would look over his shoulder occasionally, as if searching for something or someone. But nothing was visible to the naked eye. Eventually, he made his way around the side and stopped as he reached a certain section of the wall. Looking around again to make sure no one could see him, the man pressed a certain part of the wall. That part of the wall slid in, and a clicking noise was heard. Suddenly a large section of the wall, big enough for a man to slip through, opened up. The man slowly slipped inside, and the wall closed behind him.

All was silent and still for a moment, before a figure emerged from the wall of the nearby canal. The shadowy figure moved with purpose to the same section the man had just disappeared through, and quickly imitated what the first man had done. Within seconds, the secret door was open and the figure slipped through.

The shadowy figure found himself at the top of a long steep staircase, with some torches lit along the walls. The figure seemed to scan the stairwell for something, before descending downwards.

Further ahead, the first figure had already descended down the stairs, and was now in a large room filled with many stone tombs. He slowly passed them all, stopping at a wall in the back. The wall seemed just as normal as any of the others in the crypt. The man pulled a piece of parchment from his coat, and immediately began looking it over, unaware of the second shadowy figure reaching the crypt and hiding behind one of the tombs. The second figure slowly peeked around the corner, watching as the unaware man began tracing a finger over the wall.

He slowly began to press certain parts of the wall, and those parts actually sunk in. When he pushed the last one, the entire wall slowly split apart, revealing a narrow, dank passage. The man stuffed the parchment back into his coat and quickly entered. His silent follower stealthily shot up and rushed into the passage after him, just before the wall closed behind them.

The first man slowly made his way along the passage, following its twists and turns until eventually, the passage opened into a hall that stretched before him. The hall was mostly bare, save for pillars and torches in their wall sconces. At the end though was a raised stone platform, with a faded red cloth covering it. And lying on that cloth was two objects.

The man eagerly rushed forward to the platform, and stopped as he reached it, admiring the two objects on it.

One of them was a round, silver sphere, with strange glowing markings upon it. The other was a spear, the pole simple, but the spear head decorative. Like the sphere, it was also silver, and also glowed with strange markings.

The man grinned, as he slowly reached out to grab the objects. That is, until a voice stopped him. "I would not do that if I were you, señor."

He whirled, his eyes widening as he saw the second figure step out of the shadow at the foot of the stairs. Now the figure finally became fully illuminated. The man was wearing a long crimson robe with splits in the front and back to allow for easy movements. He also had long sleeves, an open collar, and a hood that came to a peak. Underneath the robe he wore another closed collar shirt and black pants with boots.

Over his robe, the figure wore a pair of steel bracers and a red sash around his waist. Over that sash was a belt covered with supply pouches, sheathes with throwing knives, and a pair of scabbards; one had a sword with a simple hilt and cross guard, and the other had a long knife. The belt buckle was shaped in a strange triangular design, with a rounded bottom.

Finishing out the outfit the man wore was a cloak worn over his right shoulder and arm, a small crossbow slung on his back, and leather armor covering his chest, left shoulder, and boots. (1)

The figure's face was half hidden by his hood, keeping his eyes in shadow. But the lower part of his face was revealed, showing a tanned, youthful face. He was grinning slightly, with his hands spread out.

The first man snarled. "Assassin!" He yelled, reaching into his coat and pulling out a wheel lock pistol. Just as he prepared to fire it, a crossbow bolt smashed the firearm from his hand, causing it to go as it hit the floor. The first man glared at the Assassin, who was calmly putting his crossbow away.

"Francois Ansel," the Assassin said calmly in somewhat rough French. "Member of the French chapter of the Templar Order, assigned to investigate the rumors of strange artifacts within Paris. My name is Raphael Cortez, and I'll be the assassin assigned to stop you tonight."

Francois growled at him. "You can't stop me Assassin! With these artifacts, I'll be invincible! I shall take over the Templar Order, wipe out your pathetic kind, and finally bring peace to the world!" He spun around, lunging and grabbing the spear off the platform. As he did, Raphael rushed forward while grabbing his sword from its scabbard. Francois spun, stabbing at Raphael, who parried the blow in time with his sword and punched Francois across the jaw. The French Templar rolled over the platform and got up as Raphael jumped on the table and slashed down at him.

Francois blocked the sword with the spear before Raphael was blown back by a sudden explosion of energy from the spear. Raphael managed to land on his feet, staring as Francois grinned almost insanely as he now held the glowing spear. "Yes…..I can feel the power now. The power coursing through this! Do you know what this is?" He asked with a grin.

Raphael slowly held his sword in a defensive position as Francois continued. "This is the famed Spear of Destiny! The Holy Lance! The spear that pierced the side of Jesus Christ during the Crucifixion! With it and that Apple of Eden, I am invincible! I will take over the Templar Order and kill your pathetic rabble of Assassins! And then the world will know true peace!"

Francois lunged at Raphael, who barely parried the spear head to one side. He swung his blade around, going for a quick strike at Francois. But as his blade neared the Templar's arm, a strange golden energy erupted around him, deflecting the blow. Raphael's hidden eyes widened in shock before the haft of the spear slammed into his chest, knocking him back. Raphael rolled, bringing his right arm up and activating a small mechanism on the bottom of the steel bracer on his right arm. The mechanism went off, revealing it was a small pistol.

The bullet smashed into the energy field around Francois, but was deflected again. Francois laughed madly as he rushed forward, swinging the spear down at Raphael. Raphael blocked with his sword and pushed him back. Francois growled and stabbed at him again. Raphael rolled behind him, swinging and striking hard and fast at him. Yet again, the energy field stopped his attack.

Raphael quickly jumped back, creating some space between himself and Francois, while sheathing his sword. None of his weapons were having an effect it seemed. The spear seemed to be protecting him with some type of energy field.

Francois growled and lunged at him, trying to stab him again. Raphael grabbed the spear shaft and punched at Francois, who titled his head to avoid the blow. The two now held the spear shaft, and were struggling to pull the weapon from each other. Their struggle pushed them towards the stone platform.

Suddenly, Francois smashed his head into Raphael's in a nasty head butt. The surprised and stunned Assassin fell back onto the stone platform, his hood falling down. This revealed his shoulder length brown hair, pulled back into a ponytail, as well as his dark brown eyes. He shook his head, trying to clear it, only to grunt as he felt Francois pin him down with a foot on his chest. The French Templar grinned as he held up the spear, ready to stab down at him.

"You will be the beginning," he said with a mad grin. "You are the beginning of your order's end!"

He raised the spear higher, savoring the moment before the kill. Raphael's eyes widened, before he madly looked to either side. His eyes locked on something to his right and he reached over, grabbing it.

As Francois stabbed down, Raphael yanked the nearby sphere and used it to block the spear, knocking it so it stabbed into the stone platform. His left fist clenched and reared back, slamming into Francois' face and send him flying back. He dropped the sphere on the platform, not noticing the two glowing with energy crackling over the surface of the sphere and the spear head.

Francois slowly got up, drawing a knife from his coat. He growled, lunging at Raphael. Raphael blocked his arm holding the knife with his right arm, while he punched Francois in the face repeatedly with his left fist. He then shoved Francois against a wall, holding him there with his hand at Francois'. "I take no joy in taking a life," he said quietly, as he raised his left arm. "But I do what is needed to protect the freedom of mankind," he said as he seemed to flex his left hand. As he did this, a foot long blade emerged from the underside of his left bracer. He plunged it into Francois' neck, causing the French Templar's eyes to widen in pain and fear. Blood began to seep from his mouth, as Raphael retracted the blade from Francois' throat. Francois slowly slumped to the ground, blood seeping from his throat and mouth as he stared at Raphael. Slowly though, his eyes glazed over, and he slumped over.

Raphael slowly knelt down and closed his eyes. "_Descansa en la paz (Rest in Peace),_" he whispered in Spanish. He stood again, looking towards the stone platform. It was then he noticed the now high amounts of energy radiating from the two artifacts. His eyes widened as he lunged over to them, but it was too late. There was a sudden explosion of energy, sending him flying back. He crashed onto the floor, as the spear went flying by, crashing into the far wall. The sphere landed next to Raphael.

Raphael groaned, slowly trying to get up, only to blink as he felt a pull. He looked up, his eyes widening in fear. Where the stone platform had been was now some type of tear in the very air. And it was sucking in everything in the room. Even now, the Apple of Eden, the sphere next to him, began rolling forward towards the rip. Raphael struggled to back away, grabbing onto a pillar, as the Apple was pulled into the rip, followed by Francois' body. Raphael grunted, as his body was slowly lifted from the ground, being pulled towards the strange anomaly. He felt the pull getting stronger, as he struggled to hang on.

Eventually though, it was too much. Raphael felt his grip loosening, before he was pulled free. With a yell, he fell into the rip. A few minutes later, the hole disappeared, as the energy that fed it, built up from the contact of two Pieces of Eden, burned out.

_Unknown Place and Time_

A man dressed in the robes of a Buddhist monk sat on a hill overlooking a grassy plain. He was humming quietly, as he wrote in a scroll with a calligraphy brush. As he paused in his writing, he looked up, enjoying the afternoon. He smiled, his eyes closed.

Those eyes snapped open though as he heard what sounded like explosions coming from above him. His eyes widened as the sky darkened, and lightning began to streak across the sky. Before he could even get up to head for cover, the sky seemed to split open, and a strange silver object shot out of the opening, smashing into the grassy plain below. Almost as quickly as it appeared, the opening disappeared.

The monk blinked before standing up and grabbing his staff off the ground. He slowly approached the object that had crashed into the ground. Perhaps it was some strange meteorite?

When he arrived at the crash site, he was surprised. There was a small impact crater, but there was no fire or debris. And the object he could now see was a sphere, made of what seemed to be silver with strange glowing runes. The monk slowly reached out with his staff and touched the object. After a few seconds he pulled it back and touched the end of the staff. Feeling that it was still cool, he knelt down. Very slowly, he reached out a hand, and touched the sphere. It was cool to his touch, so he picked it up, to examine it. He slowly began to turn it over, looking it over. His eyes widened as he saw the glow intensify. Before he could drop it, energy surged from the sphere and struck him in the eyes.

He let out a scream of pain as the energy continued to pour into his eyes, into his mind. He felt such agony, that he had never experienced before. At the same time, he felt like his body was filling with fire. Fire that spread to every tip of his anatomy.

This continued for a few minutes, before the energy faded, and the monk fell to his hands and knees. The sphere rolled a few feet away from him, as he remained there, shuddering and panting. The monk slowly lifted his head, panting, his eyes closed. But when they opened, his eyes were changed. Where once they had been black, they now were purple, almost gray, and had numerous rings in a ripple pattern.

The monk panted, as he looked to the sphere. So much information was coursing through his mind. So much knowledge. And that fire from before. He felt it in his body. He had never felt this before, and yet it felt natural. As if it had always been a part of him.

The monk looked to the sphere. This knowledge….this feeling in his body. He needed to understand it more. To understand what had been done to him. Slowly he grabbed the sphere and stood up. Whatever this energy was, he would need a name for it. Perhaps…..chakra? That could work.

It was upon this day that the man known as the Sage of Six Paths was born. (2)

_Another Unknown Place and Time_

The night sky above a village was filled with fireworks going off, illuminating the sky and the village. Below, the people were celebrating some type of festival, enjoying their merriment. Children giggled as they ran from stand to stand, while their parents watched over them. Young couples stopped to buy items, or slip into a quiet corner to make out. Older men and women stopped to talk with each other, reminiscing about their younger years.

It was due to the fireworks and explosions above, and the merriment of the festival below, that no one saw the rip opening in the sky, or saw the figure falling from it.

On the outskirts of village, inside a massive defensive wall that encompassed it, the figure hit the water of a pond within a wooded area, and sunk. A few moments later the figure burst from the water, swimming to shore where they collapsed, panting heavily.

Raphael Cortez didn't know how long he lay there, but eventually, he felt some strength return to his body. He managed to pull himself further out of the pond, and onto the ground. He slowly staggered to his feet, holding his head. His whole body felt like it was burning, and his head was pounding. The sudden sound of an explosion forced him to look up, his eyes widening as he saw fireworks going off in the night sky. And they widened further, as he saw them illuminate a strange mountain that seemed to have massive faces on it. Four faces, each overlooking what looked like a village in the distance.

Raphael just stared in bewilderment. Where the hell was he? He had been in a crypt under Paris, and now he was in some type of field with a village in the distance, and fireworks going off? It made no sense.

Grunting, Raphael slowly headed towards the village, hunched over a bit. Maybe they could help him understand where he was.

As he walked, he felt the pain slowly leave his body. He still ached form the impact with the water and the frantic swim to shore, but the pain from his time in…whatever that was, was fading. He slowly stood straight, moving more normally.

It took him about twenty minutes to finally reach the village. When he did, his eyes widened. There were hundreds of people milling about, in some sort of festival. They were wearing a variety of clothing. Most seemed to be wearing some type of decorative robes, with a few wearing normal shirt and pants in a variety of colors. Others seemed to be wearing some type of uniform, consisting of dark blue pants and shirts, and a green vest with a red swirl on the back. These figures also wore headbands with a metal plate on the forehead, with a strange emblem on it. This seemed to be some type of uniform, indicating they were soldiers or guards of some type.

Raphael slowly slid into an alley, observing them. Wherever he was, it certainly wasn't any place he had seen or heard of before. Since when did people have green or red or blue hair?

As he remained in the alley, a family passed by, stopping at a stall. He blinked as he tried to listen in on them. He stopped though, when he heard what they were speaking.

'_Is that…..Japanese?_' He thought. His mind went back to a few years ago; to a woman he met from that country. A fellow Assassin who had fled from Japan when a samurai killed her father and raped her mother.

Her name had been Tsuiseki, which translated to the word tracking from her language. An excellent name for an Assassin. She had fled from Japan by way of a fishing boat. She had come across an Assassin cell in China, and they had accepted her into their ranks. After she became a full Assassin, she had travelled to Rome, seeking more training from Ezio in how to start an Assassin Cell in Japan.

During her time in Rome, she and Raphael had become friends. She had learned some rough Italian before reaching Rome. Raphael had helped finish her lessons in Italian, while she in return had taught him Japanese.

Now, he tried to recall those lessons. And as he did, the words coming from the family began to make sense.

"Otou-san, can we go play the fishing game next?" The family's son asked eagerly, as the father bought some food.

"Of course Sochi. This is a special night after all," the father said with a smile, as they moved off.

Raphael sighed quietly. He hoped he could remember his lessons. Otherwise this could be trouble. But this definitely could mean he was in Japan. Perhaps he could find Kuki again? Find out how he ended up in Japan? He needed more information. And the best place for that would be some type market or plaza. He wouldn't see anything from down here though.

Looking at the buildings on either side of the alley he was in, he nodded as he saw imperfections and footholds. No windows though. That could be troublesome. But he'd find a way up.

He turned and ran up the wall he had been leaning against, gaining enough height to grab an imperfection in the wall. He then moved to a jutting piece of masonry, before continuing his climb up, till he reached the roof, and pulled himself up onto the top of the building. Slowly, he looked around for a high point her could climb and scan the village. His eyes landed on what looked like a tall apartment building nearby. Nodding, he began to run in that direction.

The people below didn't notice the robed and hooded figure running form rooftop to rooftop. But a group of four shadowy figures did. They had been racing along rooftops themselves, heading in the opposite direction, when they had seen the figure. The leader of the group of four raised a hand, and pointed in the direction of the figure. As one they followed, shadowing the assassin.

Raphael soon reached the apartment building and began to climb to the top, quickly reaching it where he crouched down on its highest point. Slowly he began to scan the village with his eyes, taking in the layout as far as he could see. As he did, he stopped to admire the large mountain with four stone faces on it. Some type of monument. Definitely impressive. But when his eyes turned back to the village, he blinked, confused.

He hadn't really noticed before, but the buildings, and the streets. They were illuminate din a strange manner. He had seen the lights, but assumed they were torches or lanterns. But now as he took a more serious look, he could see that wasn't the case. Many of the lights seemed to be some strange glowing sphere, that didn't waver like the flames of a torch or candle would. What were these strange lights?

He shook it from his thoughts and was about to scan the village again, only to stop when he heard yelling. He turned to the general sound of the yelling, trying to pinpoint it. There seemed to be some sort of scuffle in a side street. Raphael bit his lip, before nodding to himself. Standing up, he looked down below to the street. Seeing a hay cart, he took a deep breath before spreading his arms and jumping. He somersaulted in the air and landed in the hay cart. Taking a moment to recover, he hopped out and headed down the street, drawing a few stares. Especially form the four shadows who had been tailing him.

Raphael quickly headed to the street where he had seen the scuffle, and stopped at the corner of an intersection, peeking around the corner. What he saw made him freeze, and blood boil.

There was a group of people, each carrying an item of some sort. Knives, rocks, and a few carried broken glass bottles. They were yelling at a pair of figures in front of them.

One of those figures was a small boy, perhaps five years old, wearing a dirty white shirt with a red spiral, and blue pants. He had blonde spiky hair, but any other features were hidden as the boy was cringing and covering his head with his arms.

The other was a girl about seventeen years old. She had violet hair in a strange, fan like short ponytail. She had brown eyes that didn't seem to have pupils, and was wearing a mesh fishnet top with no sleeves, with a black tube top covering her breasts. She also was wearing dark colored shorts, knee high boots, and mesh armbands covering her forearms and elbows. She also had the headband he had seen others wear. She was gripping some type of knife, and yelling at the group before her. (3)

"Just leave him alone!" The girl yelled at the others, gripping her knife.

The leader of the group sneered. "Look at this, boys! The snake whore is defending the demon! Why isn't that surprising?" the others sneered and yelled.

The girl growled, her eyes narrowing in anger. "The only demons I see are the people who would pick on a defenseless boy! Just leave him alone!"

One of the men scoffed. "Forget about it! We'll kill them both and rid this village of the demon and the traitor!" He shouted as he rushed at Anko with a knife raised.

The girl named Anko gripped her knife, ready to block. She didn't have to. The man was hit by a red blur from the side, smashed into the ground. The red blur became identified as Raphael, who proceeded to smash his left fist into the man's face, knocking him out.

He got up and turned to look at the small mob, who now gripped their weapons. "You will leave now, if you know what's good for you," he spoke in rough, almost broken Japanese.

The leader growled. "He's just one man! Get him!" He shouted, as he rushed Raphael, his followers behind him.

Raphael shook his head as he settled into a stance, raising both hands. The first man, armed with a rock, tried to smash it into his head. Raphael grabbed his arm and flipped him over, smashing him into the ground, before kicking back at the next one, his foot smashing into the second man's stomach. He rolled to one side, kicking the third assailant's feet out from under him before knocking him out with a rapid punch to the face. The fourth one came at him with a knife. Raphael grabbed his arms, twisting them around behind him and forcing the knife out of the man's hand. Grabbing it he spun it, smashing the hilt into the man's skull.

The leader came at him, armed with a butcher knife. Raphael flexed both his hands, causing two blades to emerge from under his bracers. He raised them, blocking the man's overhead swing before parrying it down and to the right. He smashed his left elbow into the man's face and kicked him in the chest. The leader of the small mob hit the wall of a building, only to find both of the blades coming from Raphael's bracers crossing over his neck, ready to slit his throat in a second. Raphael panted slightly as he stared at the man, before head butting him, knocking him out.

Anko watched the whole thing, amazed. This man had come out of nowhere and defeated the small mob within a minute. She didn't notice the blonde figure she had been protecting run away. Anko was about to speak, when four shadows dropped down, surrounding Raphael. Each was wearing dark blue pants and sleeveless shirts. They also each had grey metal bracers and some type of armored vests. Each also had a tanto strapped to their back, and wore a full face mask with what looked like a different animal design on each mask.

Raphael blinked at these figures as each drew their tanto. The one wearing what looked like some type of bird mask spoke up from behind their mask. "Sir, we must ask you to step away from the civilian and keep your hands in the air," he said.

Raphael slowly backed away from the now unconscious man, his hands moving to his sides. As he did, he stealthily pulled some objects from his pouches on his belt.

The bird masked figure stepped forward. "Sir, put your hands in the air or we will be forced to attack!" he shouted.

Raphael slowly raised his arms, hands clenched. As he did, he smirked slightly. That smirked triggered the instincts of all four masked figures. "Take him down!" The bird masked one yelled.

Just as they lunged at him, Raphael threw his hands down. The smoke bombs he had been concealing exploded, enveloping the area in smoke.

The four masked figures jumped back, not wanting to be caught in the smoke and lose their target. When the smoke cleared though, there was no sign of Raphael. The four masked figures looked at each other and nodded before splitting up.

Raphael was rushing through the crowd of festival goers, trying to escape. People were watching as he rushed by, some yelling as he almost knocked some of them over or crashed into them.

Raphael kept running, only for his eyes to widen as he saw a cart blocking his path. Seeing no choice, he strafed left, jumping through a stand, causing the person running it to duck down. Raphael bypassed the cart and continued his run.

Above, one of the masked figures had found him and was following him using the rooftops. As he did, he reached up to touch his ear. "Found him!"

Raphael was moving down a side alley when one of the figures wearing a green vest and headband appeared in front of him. This man also had red eyes with strange black markings in them. Raphael blinked as the man made strange gestures with his hand, before his eyes widened as a massive fireball seemed to erupt form the man's mouth and shot towards him.

Raphael turned, seeing an awning over an entrance to a shop. He grabbed it and flipped over, landing on it as the fireball went shooting by. Raphael jumped from the awning to a sign post sticking out, before climbing to the roofs. He began to run again, not wanting to look back.

He didn't know what the hell that was, but it certainly wasn't something a normal person could do. Was it a power from an artifact? He didn't know.

What he did know was there was now a fist heading towards his head. He barely managed to duck under it and spun, now facing his attacker. It was one of the masked figures, this one with a tiger mask.

"Surrender now or I'll have to use lethal force!" The figure said. Raphael's response was to raise his fists, ready to fight.

The figure shook his head and charged at Raphael. Raphael blocked his first punch but received a second to the ribs. He grunted and grabbed the man's arm, throwing him away. The figure flipped in the air and bounced off a power transformer, shooting back at Raphael.

Raphael launched a fast punch at the masked figure's head, only for his eyes to widen as the man disappeared in a poof of smoke, replaced by a log. He felt a sudden blow to the back of his head, knocking him to his knees. A kick to the ribs flipped him over, causing him to land on his back. He hit the ground and skidded, his crossbow falling loose. He struggled to get up, only to see the masked figure pin him down. His last conscious sight was a fist coming at his head, before all became blackness.

The masked figure sighed as he stood over the now unconscious figure. He slowly reached up and activated his mike. "This is Tora (tiger) to Tori (bird). Target has been subdued."

"Acknowledged. Remove all weapons on his person and take him to ANBU headquarters. I'll contact Hokage-sama about this," the leader said over the comm radio.

Tora nodded to himself as he began to remove Raphael's weapons. It looked like things were going to be interesting in Konoha.

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**Well, here we go. Start of a new adventure!**

**For those of you who are wondering, the next few chapters will be centered on my OC Raphael here. But don't fret. It's mostly till he gets settled in Konoha. Once that happens, we'll be getting to our beloved blonde knucklehead.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this opening. I thought it was pretty good, but I am a bit unsure. Hopefully you'll all think it was good.**

**And if it wasn't quite clear, Raphael does understand Japanese. He learned from a woman from Japan who joined a group of Chinese Assassin's, and came to Ezio for aid and instruction in building a Japanese Assassin Cell. This was one of my ideas for dealing with the language barrier. The other ideas were just ignore the language problem altogether, or have the knowledge zapped into Raphael's mind during his trip through the rip in time and space. Out of the three, the one I chose seemed preferable.**

**1. Basically it's the Brotherhood Assassin outfit, except crimson instead of white. He's also armed with a blade similar to Altair's sword. Also, flip everything so the cloak and weapons are on opposite sides. Why? Because Raphael is left handed.**

**2. For those of you who might be wondering, no. The Apple of Eden here didn't give the Sage his chakra. What it did was unlock the knowledge and potential for him to use it. The potential to use it was already there, he just needed a push. Which the Apple provided.**

**3. This is Anko's outfit she wore when she took her own Chuunin Exams. I figured it would work for current time period. I also altered her age. Canon Anko would be about 13 at this point, which is 5 years after the Kyuubi attack. For the sake of my story, I need her older. So now she's 17.**

**I'm providing a biography on my Assassin OC here, to help provide any information I might miss having him discuss with others during the course of the story. If you don't want spoilers on him, don't read it. **

**Biography of Raphael Cortez**

**Name: Raphael Cortez**

**Age: 18**

**Nationality: Spanish**

**Occupation: Assassin of Rome Assassin Brotherhood**

**Appearance: shoulder length brown hair, brown eyes, tanned skin. Approximately 5'11" in height. Wears crimson Assassin robes with leather chest plate, greaves, and pauldrons.**

**Personality: A bit witty, sometimes sarcastic, but loyal and quick thinking.**

**Weapons: Dual Hidden Blades, Hidden Pistol, Assassin Sword, Long Knife, Throwing Knives, Crossbow, Smoke Bombs.**

**History: Raphael Cortez is the illegitimate brother to infamous Conquistador Hernado Cortez. Martin Cortes de Monroy had an illicit affair with the scullery maid Maria, resulting in a pregnancy. Maria was instantly cast out of the household, and forced to leave Medellin. She had Raphael on her own, and journeyed to Italy, where her uncle and aunt could provide her and her son a new life. Raphael grew up happily with his mother, uncle, and aunt in Rome, until 1498. A group of thugs broke into their home on the outskirts of Rome. Raphael was the only one to survive the encounter. At eight years old, he turned to the only option available. He spent the next four years surviving off of scraps and whatever he could pickpocket off of people. Constantly running from the city guard gave Raphael excellent hiding and free running skills.**

**At age 13, Raphael attempted to pickpocket Master Assassin Ezio Auditore, and ended up flat on his back. Ezio applauded Raphael's technique, and offered the boy new life when he heard Raphael's tale. The boy was accepted into the Brotherhood as a trainee in 1503.**

**During his time training, he worked alongside a female Assassin from Japan named Kuki (stalk), who had come to Ezio for aid in establishing an Assassin cell in Japan. Both Raphael and Kuki worked on a number of assignments together, learning each other's languages and customs. Kuki eventually returned to Japan, leaving a slightly heartbroken Raphael, who had developed a teenage crush on her.**

**After three years of training, Raphael became a full Assassin. He worked alongside the other Assassin's in furthering their influence through Rome and outside of it into other parts of Italy and Europe.**

**In 1507, a request for aid from the French Assassin Cell was sent to the Roman Cell. The Templar's had become aware of the identities of the French Assassin's, and they needed a new face to deal with the problem. Raphael was sent to Paris, where he began working alongside the French Assassin's. When rumors of a Templar Agent seeking ancient relics reached them, the French Assassin's dispatched Raphael to track him down. Raphael never returned.**


	2. Adjusting

**Well I am really….wow, I'm just really happy how so many people are already enjoying this fanfic. I mean, this is an idea that just….oh this past year or two, I really wanted to write this one, and I'm just….I'm glad you all like it.**

**Hopefully, I won't go and ruin an awesome start with lame following chapters. Guess we'll see, won't we?**

**Anyways, I mentioned this at the start of my Harry Potter Year 3 fanfic, but lovinaelita has a NaruHina fanfic challenge/request for anyone interested in taking it. Though he requests that anyone who does Pm him be ready to actually complete it. So if you're itching to write a NaruHina fanfic, but don't quite have an idea of your own yet, give him a PM.**

**Also, big thank you to mattwilson83 for not only drawing the picture I'm using for this story's cover, but also giving me permission to use it. Thank you matt!**

**So, with that business complete, it's time to get on with the chapter!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Assassin's Creed. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto, and Ubisoft.

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Adjusting **

Hiruzen Sarutobi, Sandaime Hokage of Konohagakure no Sato, sighed and rubbed his wrinkled forehead as he walked down a corridor in the ANBU Headquarters. He had been at home with his family, enjoying a rare moment of peace and quiet, when an ANBU had appeared and delivered the news. A small group of drunken men had cornered Naruto Uzumaki and tried to attack him, only to be stopped by Chuunin Anko Mitarashi. When the mob moved to attack her as well, an unknown assailant attacked them using nothing but an unknown form of taijutsu. When an ANBU patrol moved to arrest him, he nearly escaped using impressive free running and parkour skills. However, he had eventually been knocked out, restrained, and brought here.

Sarutobi quietly looked over a scroll detailing what had been learned so far about this individual. The person wore some type of robe with leather based armor and hood, and carried numerous weapons. Sarutobi glanced at a part of the report, detailing what had been removed from the captive.

"_The assailant carries numerous weapons, almost all of which seem to be light and maneuverable. These weapons include:_

_1 sword of unknown design and origin  
1 dagger of unknown design and origin  
1 crossbow with quiver of 25 bolts  
1 pouch containing 2 smoke bombs  
1 pouch containing 10 unknown small metal balls and 10 small paper tubes filled with black powder. Possibly explosives.  
1 belt containing 20 small throwing knives of unknown design and origin  
2 bracers containing retractable blades. Right hand bracer also contains a hollow needle containing poison, some type of dart launching system, and an apparatus of unknown capabilities._

_Tactical Analysis: Due to the light weight of the weapons and armor removed from individual, as well as the nature of quite of few of the weapons and items removed, assailant is possibly a non-ninja trained assassin. A scan of the assailant by a Hyuuga has confirmed that assailant has chakra coils of sufficient size to be a ninja, but that no evidence of any type of training or control of chakra is present."_

Sarutobi sighed again at that. This man seemed to be an assassin of some type. But where he was from, and what was his target were the questions.

Another question though was bothering him. If this man was an assassin, why did he blow his cover to protect Naruto and Anko? Why did he use non-lethal force against those civilians, when he could have easily dispatched them and left? Sarutobi shook his head as he approached the secure room where the man was being held. Outside stood two ANBU, rigid and at attention. Sarutobi nodded to them both, and one of them opened the door.

The room inside was lit by only a single lamp hanging above a table. Sitting on one side was an imposing figure dressed in a grey uniform with a black overcoat and gloves. Over his head he wore a Konoha headband like a bandana, hiding the numerous burns and scars that decorated his head. This was Ibiki Morino, Konoha's head interrogator.

Sitting across from him was the assailant. The figure was still wearing the robe, minus the armor and with the hood down. This revealed a young man, probably seventeen or eighteen. He had tanned skin, with the beginnings of a beard growing in. His brown hair was shoulder length, but pulled back into a ponytail. His brown eyes were looking up, watching Sarutobi.

Ibiki slowly stood up and walked over to Sarutobi, before whispering quietly to him. "Hokage-sama, I haven't been able to get anything out of him. I'm tempted to bring a Yamanaka in to do a mind dive, if we can't get any answers from him."

Sarutobi nodded quietly. "Call Inoichi in. While you do that, I'll see if I can't get through to him."

Ibiki nodded and headed out the door. As he did, one of the ANBU moved inside to act as a guard in case the prisoner did anything.

Sarutobi slowly sat down, watching the young man in front of him. The man grinned at him. "So, what can I do for you, _senor_?" He asked.

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "What?" He asked.

Raphael just smiled. "Pay it no mind. But I have to ask, is this how people who rescue damsels in distress and young kids are treated? If so, I'll have to remember not to do it again. Or at least, not get caught," he said in a joking voice.

Sarutobi let out a sigh. "I do not wish to waste time with jokes," he said simply. "The only reason you are not being interrogated and tortured for information is because you were protecting one of my shinobi, and a child being unfairly abused. That can be changed quickly. Now tell me, who is your target here in Konoha?"

The smile faded form Raphael's face and eyes, and he sighed. "Very well. I have no idea where I am," he said simply. "I did not come here to your village on purpose. One minute I'm in an underground chamber under a city. The next I'm falling into the woods outside your village. I was trying to get my bearings and locate some information when I ran into the mob problem," he said simply, sitting back.

Sarutobi eyed him. "You expect me to believe that you just appeared suddenly? From out of nowhere?"

Raphael shrugged. "I expect you to believe nothing. Accept my story or don't. All I care about is not dying or being imprisoned if I can avoid it."

Sarutobi sat back. "Then please, tell me your story," he said simply.

Raphael tilted his head back in thought for a moment, before finally speaking. "My name is Raphael Cortez. I was born in a country called...hmmm….what's the word again? Ah yes, Supein (Spain)." (1)

Sarutobi blinked at that. "I've never heard of such a country," he said.

Raphael shrugged. "That is not entirely surprising I suppose. Cathay has been pretty much closed off to outsiders for centuries, hasn't it?" He asked. (2)

Sarutobi blinked. "Cathay…..what is Cathay?"

Raphael raised an eyebrow. "This is. This country, or rather this area is known as Cathay to my people. Although, if I remember correctly, your people call it Nippon, or Nihon, yes?"

Sarutobi just stared at him. "This country is called Hi no Kuni (Land of Fire). I have never heard it referred to as Nippon," he said.

Raphael's eyes widened at that. "I….okay, I think I can maybe clear things up," he said. "May I see a map of the world? Please?"

Sarutobi just sighed and signaled the ANBU inside the room. That ANBU went to the door and talked to the one outside, who nodded and disappeared. A few minutes later he was back with a map.

The ANBU inside the room took it and laid it on the table, weighting the corners down. Raphael took one look and his heart stopped beating.

He knew that maps of the Cathay region were still fairly raw and inaccurate, so the difference between a European map of the region and a native map of the region would probably be quite different. But what he saw here was far too different to simply be a lack of knowledge of the area. It could only mean one thing.

Slowly, Raphael slumped back into his chair, just staring at the map. Then he slowly looked up at Sarutobi. "…I think there is something very wrong here," he said simply.

Sarutobi leaned forward. "What is wrong is that someone with a lot of assassin weapons attacked civilians in my village. Now I want to know how you got into my village, and why," he said his voice dead serious.

Raphael looked up at him. "…I don't know, alright? I don't know. As I said, I was in a tomb underneath a cathedral, and then there was an explosion of energy and some type of….hole or vortex that sucked me in. And then I'm suddenly falling into the woods outside your village! That's all I know!" He shouted.

Sarutobi watched him. "I see. And what proof do you have exactly of this…..vortex that brought you here?"

Raphael growled. "I don't have any. How can I prove a giant rip in the air dropped me here into your village?!"

The ANBU tensed at Raphael's yelling and grabbed the ninjato strapped to his back, but was stopped by a raised hand from Sarutobi. Sarutobi watched Raphael, who was looking at the map again. His body seemed to be radiating an aura of defeat.

At that moment, the door opened and Ibiki entered with a man wearing black pants and a black long-sleeved shirt. He also wore black sandals with what appeared to be cloth or tape around the ankles, gauntlets over his forearms, and a green flak vest with numerous pockets. Over this he wore a red sleeveless coat. The man had long blond hair in a high ponytail, and black headband with the metal plate and emblem Raphael had seen around town.

Sarutobi looked up. "Inoichi-san, thank you for coming," he said, getting up. The now named Inoichi bowed.

"Ibiki-san said you needed me to do a mind dive?" He asked his leader. Sarutobi nodded.

"Indeed. I'm afraid that so far, my conversation has not turned up anything concrete. I need to know the truth." The Hokage turned back to Raphael, who looked up.

"Memories? How is he going to see my memories?" He asked.

Nobody answered. Instead, Inoichi began to make strange symbols with his hands. Raphael blinked, before suddenly he went rigid as he felt like something was entering his body. He slumped over, eyes half closed and glassed over. At the same time, Inoichi's body had slumped over, with Ibiki catching him and putting him in a chair.

Sarutobi sighed as he watched the young man. "I'm not sure exactly what to make of him Ibiki. So far, it almost sounds like he was….transported here from somewhere else. Like a summoning jutsu almost. While I find it highly ridiculous, I'm still wondering if he wasn't somehow summoned here."

Ibiki turned to look at his leader. "If that is the case Hokage-sama, the real question is who or what summoned him here. I do not doubt though that he is not from any of the major shinobi villages. His weapons and clothing match nothing we've seen before from the other nations. And you would think if he was an assassin, he would be trained in ninjutsu and such. According to the Hyuuga who scanned him, he basically has none of the signs of being trained in the use of chakra."

Sarutobi nodded. "This is all just too strange to understand."

It was at that moment that Inoichi's body jerked, revealing he was back. His eyes shot opened and he gasped, panting heavily. Raphael jerked as well, looking up. "What the hell was that?!" He demanded.

Inoichi ignored him as he turned to Sarutobi and Ibiki. "Hokage-sama…you're not going to believe what I have to tell you," he said.

_The Rusty Kunai, Konoha_

The Rusty Kunai was one of those types of bars that catered to shinobi. While there were bars that catered to civilians and shinobi, those serving as ninjas of Konoha couldn't talk as freely, since civilians and possible spies were about. Shinobi bars though were a lot safer. The staff always was retired shinobi, whether they were the few who made it to old age, or were suffering from a physical or mental trauma that kept them from active duty.

One of the patrons of this particular establishment tonight was Kurenai Yuuhi, a chuunin in service to Konoha. The nineteen year old kunoichi was dressed in a crimson body suit with no sleeves and the standard military green flak jacket. Her headband was tied around her forehead, with her long curly raven hair flowing past her shoulders. Her ruby red eyes stared down at the cup of sake before her, before she drank it.

She didn't notice the presence behind her till they sat down on the stool next to her at the bar. She sighed as she glanced over to her right, seeing her probably closest friend. "Finally get off duty Anko?" She asked in a slightly tired and slurred voice, indicating she was starting to feel the sake she had been drinking for the past hour.

Anko Mitarashi grinned. "Awww don't be like that Nai-chan! I got a good excuse!" She said.

Kurenai just sighed, as she signaled the bartender, ordering a round of sake for Anko. When she got her drink, Anko gulped it down and grinned. "Good stuff. Thanks Kurenai!"

Kurenai just grunted, as Anko pouted. "C'mon, liven up a bit."

Kurenai just glanced at Anko, who sighed. It had been like this every year for five years now. On October 10th, Kurenai would find a bar and get drunk. She did it to try and numb the pain and memories of what happened this night five years ago. Her father had died while fighting the Kyuubi no Kitsune, a giant chakra entity of hatred and destruction, when it attacked Konoha.

Kurenai looked down at her cup and filled it again. "So what happened?" She asked, sipping it.

Anko grinned. "Well I was out patrolling the festival, keeping people from getting out of control. And I found this group of drunken idiots causing problems. Now when I stepped in, I think you can guess how they reacted," she said.

Kurenai just quietly nodded. Anko Mitarashi was strongly disliked within the village. The sad thing was, she didn't do anything to earn it. But when you're apprenticed to one of the greatest traitors of the village, people don't care about that anymore. Only one other person in all of Konoha received more hate and disdain then Anko.

Anko just smiled. "So anyways, it looked like they were going to attack me. When out of nowhere, this guy wearing this weird hooded robe thing or whatever came flying in, and just takes these guys apart! I mean he took them all down in less than twenty seconds! And the last guy he totally made him pee his pants!" she broke into giggles, as she took another drink from her own sake cup and filled it back up. "And then the ANBU came in since he was attacking civilians, and he totally gave them the slip! Whoever that guy was, he was pretty good."

Kurenai raised an eyebrow at her. "You're complimenting someone who broke the law and escaped from justice?" She asked.

Anko pouted. "Well he was arrested eventually. But c'mon, the guy came in, saved my butt, and totally took those ass-holes down. I can't admire that?"

Kurenai just grunted. "So you're late because you had to be debriefed on the whole thing, right?" When Anko nodded, Kurenai looked back at her drink. "So what were those drunkards doing in the first place?"

Anko hesitated a bit, before answering. "They were….well…they were about to attack Naruto Uzumaki."

Kurenai tensed a bit, her drink partway to her lips. After a few moments, she finally drank it. "That brat, huh?" she asked, staring at the bar.

Anko sighed, but before she could respond, Kurenai kept speaking. "Maybe you should have let them have their fun," she said.

Anko froze at that. She had never heard Kurenai talk like that before. "Kurenai….he's only five years old. He's just a little kid. I'm supposed to let a bunch of drunken assholes beat him up?"

Kurenai shrugged. "Everyone needs to take care of their grief someway," she said.

Anko just narrowed her eyes. "And what if it had been family or friends of the victims of Orochimaru's experiments? Should I just let them take care of their grief by beating me up?"

Kurenai looked at her. "It's not the same Anko."

Anko just growled as she got up. "You know damn well it is the same Kurenai. I'm right behind Naruto on this village's shit list. You need to wake up and realize that Naruto isn't the reason you're dad's dead. He's just the scapegoat everyone likes to use when they're not using me." She turned and stormed away.

Kurenai tried to stop her, but Anko was gone. Sighing, Kurenai slumped on her barstool. She glanced at her cup of sake, before leaving it with money for her drinks as she started to head for home. She would need to talk to Anko in the morning, if the snake wielding chuunin would even listen to her. 'Maybe drinking on the anniversary of my dad's death isn't such a great idea,' she thought as she stumbled home.

_ANBU Interrogation Room_

Sarutobi was rubbing his wrinkled forehead as he finished listening to Inoichi's report. They had moved outside the interrogation room for now. "I'm really too old for this. So you're telling me he is from another world?" He asked Inoichi.

Inoichi shook his head. "Not just another world, Hokage-sama. He's from another reality, another realm of existence. I saw everything he remembered. The people where he came from have no chakra or inner energy. None whatsoever. Even civilians here have very basic chakra coils. They might not be able to access their chakra, but they still have it. But in his world, chakra does not exist."

Ibiki glanced through the observation window into the room, where Raphael was glaring in their general direction. He hadn't taken kindly to having the sanctity of his mind violated. "And what is his role exactly?"

Inoichi nodded. "He is an Assassin. And I don't just mean he's a person who goes around killing people. He is part of a Brotherhood of Assassins. From what I could understand of his memories, his order works entirely by itself, with no connections, backing or funding from any village. They claim they are safe guarding the future and freedom of mankind, fighting against some mysterious shadow group. I believe he calls them….Templars. Apparently these Templars are trying to bring about world peace by enslaving people and taking away their free will. And the Assassins are stopping them."

Sarutobi just shook his head. "And you're certain these memories are authentic?" He asked.

Inoichi nodded. "Believe me Hokage-sama, I checked; double checked and triple checked his mind. There were no signs of these being false memories that he created, or that were implanted into him. These memories are 100% purely his own memories."

"Then how is it he has chakra? You said yourself according to his memories they aren't supposed to have chakra," Ibiki said.

Inoichi sighed. "I can't be sure. It might have to do with what brought him here. As he told you Hokage-sama, he was in an underground tomb, stopping one of these Templar from acquiring ancient and powerful relics. There was a fight, and he slew the man. But during the fighting, the relics were activated, and their energy ripped open a hole that swallowed him up. His memories are mostly blank during his time in this hole or vortex, except for the memory of excruciating pain. Then he crashed into a pond, in Training Ground 14 I believe. It's possible that whatever chaotic energy was in the vortex transplanted chakra into him before it spat him out."

Sarutobi watched Raphael carefully. "And we have no way of sending him back," he said. "Whatever sent him here is not something we can re-produce. In essence, he is stuck here," he said quietly. "Ripped away from everything he knows, and cast into a world full of unknown dangers and secrets."

Ibiki glanced at him. "Hokage-sama…perhaps we can give him a home here then. Put him to use. He is obviously skilled at what he does, despite his age. With training in how to use his chakra, he could make a powerful asset."

Sarutobi glanced at Ibiki. After a few moments, he quietly nodded. "Perhaps…perhaps," he said, before entering the room.

Raphael just looked at him. "So what now? Are you going to lock me away?" He asked his voice emotionless.

Sarutobi shook his head. "No. I wish to make you an offer," he said. "Whatever it was that brought you here, it is not something we can undo. We don't know how to send you back home. But if you wish, we're willing to help you settle into this world."

Raphael scoffed. "And what exactly would I do? I'm the only one of my kind here."

Sarutobi smiled. "Not quite. You may be the only one of your Order here, but you are not the only one trained to kill people stealthily. In fact, every shinobi under my command is expected to do such a thing one day, if they haven't already. We are ninja. It is our job, sometimes, to assassinate people. If you like, I'd be willing to offer you a job here in Konoha."

Raphael looked at him. "…so what is it you'd want me to do exactly?" he asked. "Become your personal assassin? Take down targets who threaten this village and your rule? I will not become some cold blood enforcer, if that is what you are asking," he said.

Sarutobi sighed. "I am not asking that of you. Konoha tries to be more diplomatic and peaceful. Or at least, as much as we can in this world. I would need you to assassinate people, yes. But generally it would be those who are threats to the safety of the people in this village, whether inside or out. I would ask you to take down those would bring war and harm to the people I lead and protect. Is that too much to ask for?"

Raphael looked down a bit, before sighing. "I need time to think about. Everything that has happened…my entire world has been turned upside down."

Sarutobi nodded. "I understand, Raphael-san. I will have you escorted to someplace more comfortable, where you may think about it. However, your weapons and armor will remain in custody for now, and you'll have an ANBU stationed outside your room." He quietly stood up. "When you make your decision, please inform the guard outside your room. He will escort you to me. Good night, Raphael-san."

Sarutobi exited the room, leaving Raphael to stare at the table. He barely looked up when one of the masked figures, similar to those he had encountered earlier, removed the shackles from his arms. His body seemed to move on auto-pilot as he was led to the upper levels of the ANBU Headquarters, where rooms for VIP prisoners were kept. Raphael was led into a two room apartment, with a couch that folded out into a bed. The second room was the bathroom. Raphael nodded to the guard after he was shown how the couch/bed worked, and quietly laid down, as the guard exited the room and took up his post.

As he lay there, Raphael's mind was going a mile a minute. His entire world had pretty much been destroyed. He was stuck in a world he knew nothing about, without any foreseeable way of getting home. What was he going to do? What could he do?

He began to think about that. Currently, he knew nothing about this world; other then it seemed remarkably similar to Japan. At least, what he could remember of Japan from what his friend Tsuiseki had told him. He had no real skills beyond those of an assassin or a thief. And quite honestly, he didn't want to go back to picking pockets again. Not unless it was part of a mission.

The more Raphael thought about it, the more he realized the inescapable truth. That he was going to have to make do with what he had. And currently what he had was an offer from someone willing to utilize his skills.

He closed his eyes, sighing. Perhaps….perhaps he could work for this village. At least for a while. He slowly drifted off to sleep.

_Next Morning_

Raphael groaned quietly as sunlight coming through a barred window landed on his face, waking him up. He slowly got up, mumbling softly, before glancing at the window. It was always one of his favorite times of the day, watching the sun rise each morning. He slowly walked over to the window, and held one of the bars, as he watched the sun slowly rise up.

Letting out a sigh, he turned as the door opened and one of the masked guards entered with a tray of food. "Breakfast," he said simply, setting it down on the couch/bed.

Raphael nodded as he came over. "Thank you," he said. "…..may I ask when your leader is available to speak to?"

The ANBU looked at him through the mask. "I'll send a message to him. He'll send for you when he's ready," he said, as he left.

Raphael quietly began to eat, and quietly prayed that the old leader was willing to accept the conditions he had.

A few hours later, Sarutobi was in his office, when his secretary buzzed him. "Hokage-sama, the ANBU is here with Raphael-san."

"Very good. Send them in please," he said.

The door soon opened and in entered Raphael with his ANBU escort. Sarutobi smiled. "It is good to see you Raphael-san. Please sit."

Raphael nodded and did so, before speaking. "I've thought about your offer. And I'm willing to perhaps offer you my services. If you agree to some conditions I have," he said.

Sarutobi sat back. "Let me hear them."

Raphael sighed. "I'll agree to work for Konoha. But I will not accept assignments for targets that I do not consider legitimate targets. If you ask me to target a war mongering noble who is trying to spread war and chaos, I'll do it. Or a weapons merchant who is supplying bandits and other such shady or illegal groups, I'll do it. Or someone who intends ill against this village or people in general, I'll do it. But I will not target someone who is not doing wrong. One of the tenets I follow is 'Stay your blade from the flesh of an innocent'. That means that if you ask me to kill someone simply because you disagree with them, or because it will expand Konoha's power, or because you receive a mission for taking out such a target, I won't do it as it goes against my principles and beliefs."

Sarutobi nodded. "I can agree to that. I highly doubt I would order such an assassination anyways."

"Secondly, I wish for your permission to perhaps begin building a new Brotherhood here in Konoha, and eventually expand it out to other villages. By recruiting other Assassins, we can start to hand out assassination missions to those in other villages, instead of having to travel there myself. I also ask that any recruits I might draw in be allowed the same conditions I am asking for."

Sarutobi thought about it. "It will depend on who you recruit to your cause. But I think for now, I can agree to this condition, provided I am allowed to make exceptions based on recruits you choose."

Raphael nodded. "Agreed. Next, I will only answer to you or whoever your replacement maybe. I will not answer to anyone else unless you put them in charge of me. Agreed?"

Sarutobi gave him a nod of confirmation, and Raphael continued. "Lastly, I want your word that if Konoha should violate my conditions that I have set, or that it becomes corrupt, me and those I may have recruited from this village are free to leave, or are free to take out those who are responsible for the violation or corruption."

Sarutobi hesitated. "That is a steep order," he said. "But then again, if such a thing were to occur, it would likely be because I am no longer Hokage. I will write a document up now, and we shall sign it."

He began to write the contract up, before signing it. Raphael bit his lip though. "I…..I'm afraid I can't read your language," he said.

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "I see. Well that does raise a problem, as you have no idea what I wrote here, do you?" He asked. "We'll have to rectify that problem and swiftly. For now though, I give you my solemn vow that what I have written here will not entrap you in any way, shape, or form."

Raphael hesitantly took it, and signed his name. "I will wish to see this document once I have learned to read your language." He said.

Sarutobi nodded. "I'll make you a copy so you can have it at all times. For now though, we shall see about proper accommodations, as well lessons in reading and this world," he said. "I also would also like to offer you the chance of learning some of our skills and abilities. You possess the means to do so, though it will take time and effort."

Raphael nodded. "I thank you for that," he said, as Sarutobi finished making a copy of the contract, which they both again signed, and he handed to Raphael. He then signaled the ANBU to come forward. When the operative did, he handed him a note.

"Please escort Raphael-san to the apartment complex at this address, and give the owner this note," he said. The ANBU nodded. "Afterwards, please retrieve Raphael-san's equipment and have it brought to his apartment."

The ANBU bowed. "As you command, Hokage-sama," he said, before waiting for Raphael. Raphael bowed his head in thanks to the aged Hokage, before following the ANBU out.

Sarutobi sat back, thinking for a moment. Raphael could possibly be exactly what he needed for a mission he had planned, but could never execute. But as he was, the young man wouldn't make it. Not yet at least. He sighed as he pulled out a small stack of papers, which listed which shinobi were currently available. He had a C-ranked mission for one of them. Finding the one he wanted, he buzzed his secretary and told her to send out a call for said shinobi.

Meanwhile, Raphael found himself standing outside the door of his new home. The ANBU had taken him to the apartment and spoke to the owner, who after reading the note handed Raphael a key with a symbol on it. After some searching, Raphael found a matching symbol on one of the doors. He quietly unlocked it, and entered.

His eyes widened as he slowly looked around. It was a strange looking place, at least to him. It had three rooms, consisting of a living/dining room, a kitchen, and a bedroom with a bathroom attached to it. But the items in the bathroom and kitchen confused him. There was a large construct in the kitchen that was cold inside. And a basin with a strange protrusion out of which came water. There appeared to be oven, but there was no room to build a fire to cook food in.

The bathroom was equally strange. While he recognized the bathtub and the sink for what they were, he was fascinated by how they both had strange metallic protrusions that seemed to hold water in them. He was also curious about the strange ceramic bowl object that seemed to have a pool of water in it that was sucked into the bowels of said bowl when he pressed a metal lever. What on earth was it? And where was the chamber pot for when he needed to relieve himself?

His musings were interrupted by knocking at the front door. He went towards it and opened it, finding the ANBU operative from before. "Yes?" He asked.

The ANBU held out a large bag to him. "Your equipment," he said simply.

Raphel's eyes widened. "Oh yes! Thank you," he said, taking the bag.

"Hokage-sama also wished for me to inform you that he is sending someone to teach you the basic things you need to know. You can expect them here in the next hour or two to begin your lessons," the ANBU said, before disappearing.

Raphael just blinked, before shrugging and closing his front door. He went to the bedroom, where he set the bag on the bed and immediately began trying to find a way to open it. After some experimentation, he found a small metal strip he could pull on, which seemed to run along two metal strips. When he pulled it one way, the strips came apart and opened the bag. When he pulled it the other way, it closed.

"Fascinating," he whispered, as he played with it a few times. Finally having enough, he began to remove his items from the bag and started to check them over for damage or missing supplies.

While he was doing this, a somewhat angry figure was heading in his direction, mumbling under her breath. "I can't believe I'm being assigned such a stupid and mundane task! Damn it Hokage-sama, what did I do to deserve this?"

Anko Mitarashi was very pissed off, and with good reason. Her only friend had verbally stabbed her in the back last night. And when she had tried to sleep, her next door neighbors had kept her up all night with arguing and then make up sex. And this morning she had been called in to meet the Hokage. She had thought she was going to get a decent mission.

Instead, she had been told she was going to tutor someone. On things like reading and history! She wasn't a teacher! She was a chuunin! A damn chuunin kunoichi!

She just grumbled as she headed to the address she was given. Surprisingly enough, it was in her apartment complex, though on a higher floor. That would make things easier.

She headed up to the apartment door and took a deep breath. "Time to get this over with," she said, before knocking.

A couple minutes later the door opened and she looked up, only for her eyes to widen. Because standing before her was the guy who rescued her from last night.

Raphael blinked as he looked at her. "Hey wait….you're the girl from last night!"

Anko pointed at him. "You're the guy who took out those civilians! What are you doing here?"

Raphael looked at her. "Well, I live here now. And I'm waiting for a tutor. And I'm guessing you're the tutor?"

She just nodded a bit. "Y-Yeah….can I ask what is going on?"

Raphael sighed as he moved to the side so she could enter. "It's a long story," he said.

Anko entered as she glanced at him. "I've got lots of time it seems."

Raphael closed his eyes, before indicating the couch that had come with the apartment. "Sit down then….and I'll try to explain. You probably won't believe me."

Anko grinned. "Try me. I've heard everything," she said.

Oh how wrong she was.

* * *

**And done. Sorry for the lack of action here. I actually had planned to write out Raphael's first assassination this chapter, but the more I wrote, the more it seemed like it was better to hold it for the next chapter.**

**So, Raphael is getting settled into Konoha. And he has the lovely Anko to be his guide. Boy is that going to cause some chaos. **

**I hope you all liked this chapter, and as I said, there will be Assassin style action next chapter, when Raphael takes on his first target. Hope you all will stick around to see who it is.**

**1. Okay, I'm using Google translate here, so please don't sue me if I got this wrong. I just honestly can't find any really good translation sights, so I'm forced to stick with what I can find. I also have a wonderful pair of betas named Bill Alain and Kyuubi123 to help me. Sorry for forgetting to mention you guys! I am horrible. *Sad face***

**2. Marquis Black told me that during this time period, Japan would probably be referred to as Cathay by Europeans. **

**Please review! I would greatly enjoy it.**


	3. A Blade in the Cloud

**And here we are! Chapter 3. **

**A lot of you actually really liked where I went last chapter, with Raphael being rather amazed by things like running water and the fridge and stuff. And I'm glad. **

**So, here we are! Raphael's first assassination target. Now I've been going over this in my head for a bit here, and I think I've got down what I want to go down. So hopefully, you'll all enjoy what I have planned.**

**As for those of you clamoring for Naruto, rest assured that either in this chapter, or the next one, Naruto will come into focus again. And afterwards, he'll remain one of the key focus's of this fanfic. I just wanted to help Raphael get settled in and established before I returned to Naruto. And this chapter definitely will have him settled in, for the most part.**

**So anyways, enough with all that. Time to get going!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Assassin's Creed. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Ubisoft.

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**A Blade in the Cloud**

_Konoha, two months later_

Anko mused quietly to herself as she ate some dango at her favorite café. It had been an interesting couple of months for the young kunoichi. First she learned that the man who had rescued her was actually from some other reality or something like that. A place with no chakra and apparently without things such as indoor plumbing and electricity.

When Raphael had finished explaining to her where he was from, that first day she had gone to teach him, she had thought it was an elaborate joke or prank. However, after talking to the Hokage about it, she had learned that it was all true. Which led to her getting drunk to make sense of it all.

Eventually though, she had come to terms with what she had learned, and had found Raphael to be a rather eager student. It had been rather amusing and embarrassing to explain certain things like how a toilet worked, and what a refrigerator was. But when it had come to things like history, geography, and learning to read and write, she had found him to be very studious. He had grasped the basics of reading and writing kanji, and was now working on becoming fully versed in being able to read and write them.

She had also been present when the Hokage had done an assessment of Raphael's fighting skills. Raphael had been partnered against a chuunin, with the rules that the spar would only include taijutsu and weapons. No ninjutsu or genjutsu.

The chuunin had started off the fight, launching a punch at Raphael. Raphael's response had been to catch the fist with his left hand, deliver a stunning blow to the chuunin's stomach to drive the air out of him, then a vicious upper cut that knocked the chuunin flat on his back. In an instant Raphael was on him, hidden blade at his throat.

However, a second battle, this time against a jounin, showed that Raphael, while fast and skilled, couldn't match the sheer speed that a shinobi of jounin rank was capable of achieving. That's not to say the battle was one sided. Raphael had remained defensive initially, using blocks and counters to open up the jounin to attacks. As he told Sarutobi and Anko, that was the style of an Assassin forced into combat. If they could not escape or kill their enemy with the initial blow, they entered a defensive stance, maneuvering and waiting for the opportunity to strike.

After finishing the assessment, Sarutobi had asked Anko to also begin instructing Raphael in utilizing his chakra. Which Anko had gladly done, enjoying practical teaching over teaching academics. Every morning the two would head to a training ground, where they would work out, spar, and Anko would teach Raphael how to first access his chakra, and then how to control it. It had taken Raphael about a week to fully call upon his chakra, since he was unfamiliar with calling upon it. Afterwards, Anko had taught him the basic control exercise, the tree walking exercise. It took Raphael the rest of the month to master it, after which Anko started him on water walking.

Raphael had been extremely grateful for everything Anko had taught him so far. In return, he offered to teach her some skills that might help her as well. He had started teaching the stealth skills of an Assassin. How to blend with a crowd of people, to be able to move in the open without being seen. He also began teaching her free running and parkour skills. Most shinobi would scoff at the idea of learning these skills, when they could use chakra to climb the side of a building, or leap over obstacles and such. But Raphael pointed out a few problems. What's to stop an enemy from sensing the chakra being used to climb the side of a building? Or what if the shinobi's chakra was running low or was cut off from them for some reason. The ability to move quickly using only their muscles and endurance, and to be able to move fluidly through any environment, would be a huge boon in those situations.

She grinned, thinking how things had worked out well for both of them, as she reached for another skewer of dango. She stopped though, as she sensed a figure behind her. She turned her head slightly. "What are you doing here, Yuuhi-san?" She asked in a slightly annoyed voice.

Kurenai mentally sighed as she sat next to Anko. She had wanted to apologize to Anko much sooner than this, but sadly she had been assigned a border patrol only a couple days after her small disagreement with Anko. She had returned yesterday evening, and now had sought out her friend to try and mend things between them.

"I…wanted to apologize to you Anko. You were right. The Uzumaki kid shouldn't be punished for what he holds inside himself. It's not like he chose to be the container of the Kyuubi," she said softly. "And you were right about how you two are similar. I see now how you could take my words to mean that I was saying you should be attacked to by those who were hurt by Orochimaru. I never meant that, and I certainly don't think that. So…..I'm sorry," she said quietly.

Anko watched her, before sighing. "I'll forgive you. But don't expect me to be all chummy right off the bat. It really hurt hearing you say those things. And I've already had enough people I thought were close to me betray my trust," she said.

Kurenai nodded. "I understand Anko. And thank you."

Anko nodded, before grinning. "So, you remember that guy I told you about? Who rescued me? Well guess what? He's here in the village now," she said.

Kurenai blinked. "Oh? Is he a shinobi?"

Anko shook her head. "Not yet. It's really a complicated story, and you should ask Hokage-sama about it. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to tell or not. But I can say that I've been sorta training with him the past couple of months."

Kurenai smiled. "Sounds a lot more exciting than what I was doing. Boring border patrol," she said.

Anko grinned. "Oh it was. Maybe I can show you what he taught me," she said eagerly.

Kurenai grinned back teasingly. "Ohhh, does Anko-chan have a crush on the new guy?"

Anko's eyes widened and she shoved Kurenai. "It's not like that! He's just been helping me, and I've been helping him," she said, growling.

Kurenai just giggled. "I'll take that as a maybe," she said.

Anko just growled. "Oh shut up and buy me some more dango," she said, viciously tearing into her last stick of the sweet dumplings.

Kurenai just giggled more as she ordered another plate for Anko.

Meanwhile, Raphael was heading towards the Hokage Tower. Instead of his normal Assassin robes, he was wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants with zori sandals. Over this he was wearing a long coat. He had his hidden blade bracers on though, as he always walked with them, in case he needed them.

The reason for these clothes was for two reasons. One, they were far more comfortable for simply walking around, talking and relaxing then his Assassin Robes were. And two, it also made him less conspicuous. He may be skilled at blending into crowds of people walking down a street, but even then his robes would be a beacon to possible enemy spies in the village. So when he wasn't training or on a mission, he would wear more 'normal' clothing.

He soon reached the Tower and climbed the stairs to the Hokage's office. The secretary buzzed him in since she knew the Hokage was expecting him.

Inside, Sarutobi was talking to a man with black hair tied up in a ponytail, a goatee, and a couple scars on the right side of his face. He was wearing standard shinobi pants, and what looked like a mesh shirt covered by the standard vest worn by Konoha shinobi and a ragged vest coat made of deer skin. He also had arm guards as well.

Sarutobi looked up as Raphael entered. "Raphael-san, it is good to see you. Please, have a seat," he said. "This is Shikaku Nara, head jounin of Konoha." Shikaku nodded at Raphael, who bowed his head in return.

As Raphael sat down, Sarutobi held up a file that had been sitting on his desk. "I know this might seem a little early, but I have a mission for you," he said, as he handed the file to Raphael.

Raphael opened it, finding several reports clipped under a picture of a man probably in his thirties. "Kosui Atama (Cunning Mind). He's a Chuunin ranked shinobi of Kumogakure no Sato. Almost two years ago, he masterminded Kumo's attempt to infiltrate and kidnap the heiress of the Hyuuga clan under the guise of a treaty agreement. The Yondaime Raikage authorized the mission that this man came up with," he said. (1)

Raphael looked over the picture and the reports under it. "Is there a reason you want him dead?" He asked.

Shikaku spoke up at this point. "The attempt to kidnap the Hyuuga Heiress was foiled two years ago by Hiashi Hyuuga, head of the clan. However, the kidnapper was the ambassador sent by Kumo. They denied any involvement and demanded Hiashi in exchange for their 'unjustly' executed ninja. The Hyuuga instead sent Hiashi's twin brother Hizashi. The reason for this is Hizashi was part of the Branch Family of the Hyuuga clan. Every Branch Member of the clan bears a seal that protects the bloodline of the Hyuuga, the Byakugan."

Raphael blinked. "The what?" He asked, confused.

Sarutobi coughed a bit to gain Raphael's attention. "It is a special bloodline ability of the Hyuuga clan. They are able to use their eyes to see a person's chakra network, among other things. I'll have to make sure Anko teaches you about bloodlines and such after this mission."

Shikaku continued. "Since Hizashi had the seal, his bloodline would be sealed upon his death. Kumo wouldn't be able to study it or use it against the Hyuuga Clan or Konoha. Sadly, this has not deterred them, as a contact we have in Kumo has informed us that Kosui here is already in the process of beginning a second attempt to kidnap one of the unsealed Main Family members of the Hyuuga clan. So, we want to send you in to take care of him."

Raphael looked over the reports again. "How reliable is this contact?"

Sarutobi answered this time. "The contact has been fairly reliable. They've been sending us info for close to two years now, and each bit of info has been completely accurate and helpful. However, this time they have requested extraction and asylum within Konoha, making us believe that they are a Kumo shinobi or citizen. Do you accept the mission?" He asked.

Raphael thought about it for a few moments, before nodding. Sarutobi handed him a scroll. "The details of your mission. Your objective is to infiltrate the village of Kumogakure no Sato and make contact with our informant on the inside, code named Kage Neko. They will provide you with info necessary to get at your target. You will then target Kosui Atama and remove him. Recover any information inside his house, and then destroy any information you cannot retrieve. Lastly, extract yourself and Kage Neko from Kumo and return to Konoha."

Raphael nodded quietly, as Shikaku nodded. "You'll be heading out tomorrow morning, to a small outpost south of the border with Yu no Kuni, where you'll pick up documents that will let you enter Kumo. After that, make your way to Kumo."

Raphael stood. "I understand. How will I recognize Kage Neko?" He asked.

Sarutobi indicated the scroll he had handed him. "The code phrase will be in there. I would suggest going in civilian clothes till you reach Kumo."

Raphael nodded. "I understand," he said, before bowing and leaving, letting out a breath before he did. This would be his first assassination here in the Elemental Nations. And if there was one thing he had learned, it was not to underestimate the prowess or paranoia some of these shinobi had.

_Gates of Kumo, two weeks later_

Much like Konoha, Kumo was protected by a large defensive wall, which surrounded the village built into the base and side of a large mountain. The wall had only one opening, a massive gate with Kumo shinobi always on duty while it was open.

Towards this gate came a large convoy of wagons. A merchant convoy from Shimo no Kuni to the south, bearing goods to trade and sell within Kumo's walls.

As the convoy approached the gate, they were stopped by a squad of four Kumo shinobi, who approached the head merchant. "Gyosha-san (merchant), we'll need to examine the contents of your wagons for any smuggled weapons or black-market items," the leader of the squad said.

The merchant nodded. "Of course. Yohei-san (mercenary)! Please aid these men in examining the merchandise!"

A figure dressed in a dull brown cloak and hood with a battered looking katana at his side nodded as he approached the ninja at the back of the first wagon. "Shinobi-san," he said, as he began pulling back the protective covering so the shinobi began to examine the contents.

The shinobi began to inspect the contents of the wagon, followed by each wagon in turn. When they finished, the lead shinobi turned to them all. "Alright then. Remember, don't cause any trouble while within our village. We'll be watching all of you. Especially you Yohei-san. Keep that blade of yours sheathed at all times," he said.

With that, the wagons rolled into the village, heading towards the commercial part of the village. When they eventually arrived, the merchants began unloading the wagons as the head merchant approached the cloaked Yohei. "You did excellent work. Here is the money we owe you," the merchant said, handing over a couple stacks of ryo's.

Yohei nodded. "Thanks. I don't suppose you know where I can find a bar named The Drunken Thunder?"

The merchant chuckled. "It's two streets down to the right," he said, pointing.

Yohei nodded again in thanks, as he headed off towards the bar, passing through the busy streets of Kumo. Though no one noticed due to the shadow of the cloak hood, the man's eyes were subtly scanning the streets and rooftops as he walked.

He eventually reached the bar and entered. He headed over to the bartender and nodded. "Nice fall weather we're having, huh?" He asked.

The bartender blinked, before moving closer. "Yeah. Too bad the leaves are changing," he said back.

Yohei smiled. "Well there are some places where the leaves never change."

The bartender nodded. "I've got a friend who'd like to see that. They're in the backroom."

Yohei nodded, got a bottle of sake, and headed to the back room. The door was closed, but he knocked three times. After a few moments, the door slid open, and he entered.

Inside he found a cloaked figure wearing a black ANBU mask with a Neko design on it. When they spoke, their voice was distorted by either a jutsu or a device on the mask, hiding their gender and identity. "_I take it you're the one sent from Konoha?_" The figure asked, after Yohei closed the door.

Yohei lowered his hood, revealing he was really Raphael. "I am. You're Kage Neko?"

The figure nodded. "_Kosui will be out drinking this Friday evening. He does so every Friday. His guard will be lowered once he's inside his apartment. That will be the ideal time to strike. This map shows you how to reach his house from here. It also has the scheduled patrol routes of the shinobi patrols within Kumo. Kosui has no defensive measures applied to his apartment, so it should be simple enough to break in. I would suggest making a preliminary assessment of the target's apartment before you attempt to take him down._"

Raphael nodded as he studied the map. "What about getting out?" He asked.

The masked figure chuckled. "_I have that covered as well. Once you've done the deed, return here, and I'll handle getting us out of the village. I just hope you're good enough to handle the job,_" Kage Neko said, as they stood up. "_You can stay here until it's time. The back door here will lead you to an alleyway. Good luck._"

Before they could leave, Raphael asked one final question. "Why are you doing this?" He asked, watching them stop.

Kage Neko stood there, before turning their head a bit, as if to look back at Raphael. "_Why am I betraying my village you mean? Because a long time ago, this village betrayed me_." With that they left.

Raphael sighed as he sat down quietly. Well that had been a cryptic response. He glanced around the room, before quietly slipping towards the back alley, raising his hood. Might as well get some scouting done while he was here.

Meanwhile, in the Raikage's Tower, built into the side of the mountain, Kosui was in a meeting with the Raikage. Kosui was in his mid-thirties or so, wearing the standard uniform for a Kumo shinobi with his headband covering his hair like a bandana. However, his flak vest had a small kanji on the collar that said 'Strategy', denoting him as part of the strategic branch of Kumo's shinobi forces. It was their job to regulate battle strategies for the village of Kumo in times of war, and to come up with covert ops missions and internal security strategies in times of peace. Kosui wasn't the head of the Strategy branch, but he was one of the most well-known and successful members of it.

Currently, the Raikage, A was pumping iron as he watched the strategist shinobi. "I want a status report on Project Blind Eye," he said.

"Of course Raikage-sama. Initial planning for Project Blind eye has been going well. I should have a finalized operation plan after the New Year. I would suggest readying teams for training sessions."

A looked up at him. "Excellent, excellent. And where are you keeping the information on your plan?"

"Due to the recent security leaks, I've been keeping the information at my home, in a safe. Once the plan is finalized, I'll make a copy to be held in your personal archive for safe keeping."

A nodded as he switched arms. Kosui began to speak again. "There have been some concerns, about….well about her, Raikage-sama," Kosui spoke quietly.

A froze, before he began pumping iron again, though his form was more rigid. "What concerns?" He asked.

Kosui sighed. "She has not been socializing well, Raikage-sama. After her training was complete and she was assigned to a team, it was noted she was rather standoffish towards her teammate. She is working hard with them, but she tends to keep largely to herself. It is not good for someone of her status to be so….anti-social."

A finally set the dumbbells down on a custom holding rack. Even with the reinforced design of the rack and the reinforcement seals, the rack creaked and trembled slightly. "I will speak to her about this. But given what she's gone through, can you blame her?" He asked.

"Raikage-sama, I understand you feel guilt over what we had to do, but it was necessary." Kosui argued.

A sighed quietly. "Was it? Was it really?" He asked, before waving Kosui away. "Unless we start seeing her behave in a negative way, she is free to spend her free time how she sees fit. Now go. You're dismissed," he said.

Kosui sighed and bowed, before leaving. A quietly sat there for a moment, before shaking his head, dispersing the memories of the past. He quietly set to work on his paperwork, hoping it would drive away the negative thoughts and memories sprouting up.

_December 27__th__ Two days later_

It was night time in Kumo. The village was mostly quiet, save for those civilians and ninjas out partying late. It was also a cold night, which meant not many people wanted to be out on the streets. Of course they were nearing the end of December, so it was understandable that it was cold.

Since almost no one was out, no one saw the hooded figure sliding out of the back door of the Drunken Thunder. The figure headed down the alleyway and proceeded to head towards his destination. He remained in the shadows, leaving them only briefly to cross from one alley to the next, darting through the mostly devoid streets. On occasion he stopped and clung to the sides of whatever alley he was in, as a patrol of Kumo shinobi darted by overhead, or passed along a street ahead or behind him.

Eventually, Raphael stopped as he found himself facing a large apartment complex. The building was at least five stories high, with numerous windows indicating the numerous apartments that made up the building. His hooded head turned this way and that, scanning the area, before he slipped from the shadows and moved quickly to the apartment. Instead of heading in though, he slipped to the alley between the apartment and a store next door.

Once he was in the alley, the Assassin slowly looked up at the side of the building, his eyes darting over every feature of it. He took a few steps back before rushing towards it, and then actually ran a few steps up the side of the building before grabbing onto a window ledge. Slowly and stealthily, Raphael began to climb, doing his best to avoid the windows, as his hands and feet sought out each precious purchase on the stone wall of the apartment.

After about ten minutes of slow and stealthy climbing, Raphael found himself outside the third level of the apartment complex. Taking a deep breath, he channeled as little chakra as he could into his feet to hold himself in place, silently thanking Anko for that tree walking exercise.

He quietly counted windows, and when he found the one he wanted, he began to move over to that one, crawling up to the ledge of the window. He slowly peered inside, and found it completely dark. That wasn't surprising. If Kage Neko's information was accurate, Kosui wouldn't be back for at least another hour or two.

Raphael slowly moved up a bit, pulling out a small thin blade from a pouch on his belt. The windows were the type that the lower part slid upwards, and were locked in place by small rotating latches that locked into grooves attached to the upper part of the window. Sliding the small blade up into the narrow slit between the upper and lower parts of the window, he began to work at the latch, slowly rotating it until it was unlocked. Doing the same for the second latch, he soon had the window unlocked. He pulled out a larger blade this time from the same pouch, and managed to jimmy it under the bottom part of the window, prying it up far enough to then open the window with his hands. He quickly slid inside, closed the window, and locked it.

He found himself in the darkened living room of the apartment, the only illumination being the light of the moon and the street lights. Knowing that it was too dangerous to turn on the lights, he instead settled for pulling out a small candle like torch from another of his supply pouches, and lighting it. He quietly began to examine the apartment, looking for any information on operations and projects the man might be working on.

Initially, he found nothing simply sitting out, or hidden in any bookcases or drawers. But after forty minutes of careful and thorough searching, he found a safe located behind Kosui's clothes. He examined it over, but ended up finding no weakness or way in. So instead, he returned the closet to the way it had been when he found it, and decided to wait patiently for his target to arrive. Perhaps the man might check the safe upon his return?

Almost a half hour later, Raphael was rewarded with the sound of movement outside the apartment door. He heard the fumbling of keys in the lock, along with muffled cursing. Raphael quickly slid into a shadowy corner of the living room, where he remained perfectly still. Soon enough Kosui opened the front door.

Raphael held his breath, as he watched his target stumble a bit inside the living room of his apartment. The ninja moved into the kitchen, where Raphael heard the sink being run and then Kosui drinking the water he had poured himself, before the man stumbled towards his bedroom. Quietly, Raphael slid out of the corner and stealthily followed.

He stopped outside the bedroom door, which was mostly closed, and peeked inside. Kosui was at the closest, fumbling with the safe Raphael had investigated earlier. He heard the combination on the front being turned, and the safe opening, with Kosui making a satisfied grunt. It was then he made his move.

Kosui didn't even have time to react, as he felt one hand covering his mouth before a sharp pain ripped through his chest. He weakly struggled, even as he felt the life fade from him, before the world went dark.

Raphael slowly retracted the blade of his left bracer from Kosui's heart, as he slowly began to lower the man to the ground. "_Descansa en la paz_," he said, as he closed Kosui's eyes. He shook his head quietly as he turned to the safe, and began pulling the files and scrolls inside. Slowly he began to look over them, before nodding and stuffing them into his robe. He closed the safe and locked it, before turning off the lights in Kosui's apartment. He slipped out the window and closed it, and again jimmied the locks into place as best he could, before scaling down the side of the building. Raphael had completed his first assassination within the elementals nation. Little did he realize he had assassinated Kosui on the second year anniversary of Kumo's attempt to steal the Byakugan.

An hour later he was slipping into the back room of the Drunken Thunder, where Kage Neko was waiting for him. He nodded to them. "It's done," he said quietly.

Kage Neko just nodded. "_I've set up a series of low level explosives to go off in exactly twenty minutes. They'll make a lot of smoke and noise, drawing a lot of attention into thinking they are explosions and fires. We'll use the chaos to flee the village._"

Raphael nodded. "Then let's get moving," he said, nodding to the door.

The two of them slipped out into the shadows of the alleyway, and began heading towards the front gate, keeping to the shadows of the buildings and alleyways as they did so.

It took them the better part of their twenty minute limit to arrive near the gates of Kumo. Standing guard were four chuunin level shinobi, who were watching the road outside the village. Raphael glanced at Kage Neko, who checked a watch on their wrist, before looking up. She held up a hand for silence, as they waited.

Two minutes later, loud explosions erupted on the east side of the village, and smoke could be seen rising above the buildings. Numerous shouts could be heard arising through the village, before an alarm went up.

The chuunin immediately began reacting. The leader of the quartet ordered two of the others to start closing the gate using the seals that controlled the massive wooden constructs. Kage Neko nodded at this. "We'll need to get out of the gate and fast! The guards will probably tail us, so we'll have to be quick."

Raphael grinned. "Not necessarily," he said, grabbing two objects from his pouches. "I'll need to see about finding more of these back in Konoha. Go now!" He shouted.

The two made a break towards the gate, which was half closed. The two chuunin not sealing the gate saw them, and grabbed kunai. However, Raphael let loose with the two objects in hand. One landed at the feet of the two chuunin and exploded, enveloping them in a cloud of white smoke that instantly burned their nostrils and throats. The other one landed behind them, in the still closing gate. The two clouds of smoke obscured Kage Neko and Raphael as they rushed through the closing gate. Mere seconds afterwards the gates were close, cutting off pursuit.

Raphael grinned as they sprinted away from Kumo, now a massive hive of activity. "I never did give you my name, did I? Raphael Cortez, at your service."

Kage Neko looked at him, before removing the mask and hood they wore, revealing a young fifteen year old teenage girl with long blonde hair in a braid, and black eyes. "I'm Yugito. Yugito Nii," she said, as the two quickly left Kumo behind.

_Kumo, Two Hours later_

A was reading over the report delivered to him about the incident on the east side of the village, as well as the gate. "Can someone please explain to me how two dozen mock explosions were set up and triggered without anyone noticing? Not to mention how two people were able to escape out of Kumo without being identified at all?"

The ANBU who had handed in the report spoke up. "Raikage-sama, the items used to simulate the explosions was simple high yield smoke bombs attached to noise maker tags. They were easily hidden in numerous areas all over the east side of the village. As for the incident at the gate, they were caught off guard, and before they could get a clear look at the escapees, they were blinded by smoke bombs that not only blinded the chuunin, but severely irritated their breathing passageways, incapacitating them."

A growled in frustration. "But why? What was all this for? I want the entirety of the Strategic Shinobi Corp in here on the double!" He shouted.

The ANBU bowed his head and disappeared, as A sat back. What was the reason for all this? Was it spies, seeking information and making their escape? Was it a reconnaissance mission from one of the other villages? Was it a defection attempt by some of his shinobi? He had already sent out three squads of ANBU to try and bring the two mysterious figures in. Hopefully he'd have some answers and soon.

Within ten minutes, several members of the Strategy Corp had arrived in his office. A scowled as he noticed Kosui still hadn't arrived. "Damn that man. He's probably hung-over at his apartment," the Raikage snapped, only to blink as the ANBU appeared.

"Raikage-sama, Kosui was found dead in his apartment. Someone stabbed him through the heart from behind. However, we can find no sign of forced entry. We also found a safe in his closest, but upon forcing it open, we found no signs of any valuables or documents."

A's eyes widened in realization. "That's what it was," he said quietly. "It was an assassination. The distraction on the east side of the village….it was so whoever took out Kosui could escape, before Kosui was discovered and the village went on lockdown."

One of the Strategy Ninjas nodded. "It makes sense Raikage-sama. By why strike at Kosui? While he was one of the more brilliant minds of the Strategy Corp, he remained pretty anonymous. Why would they target him and not one of the higher up members?"

A turned to look out the window. "Because somehow…..someone knew what Kosui was working on. More than likely….someone found out about Project Blind Eye, and moved to put a stop to it, by taking out its creator."

"Konoha," one of the other shinobi snarled. "But how? How could they have known?"

A looked down slightly. "Because we either had, or still have a traitor in our midst. Someone from Konoha….or one of our own shinobi sent them the information. Begin an immediate sweep of the village! I want every shinobi accounted for!"

The shinobi dispersed to carry out his orders, as A looked out the windows of his office, in the direction of Konoha. "This round goes to you Konoha. The next one will not."

_Konoha, five days later_

Raphael sighed softly as they neared the gate. It was good to be back. It had been a tense five days escaping from the pursuing Kumo ninja. They had gone to a Konoha safe house within Kaminari no Kuni (Lightning Country), after Raphael had blindfolded Yugito for security reasons, where they had donned disguises and snuck out of town. They had done their best to avoid Kumo patrols, which had seemingly tripled by the next day, making Raphael suspicious. He had expected an increase in enemy patrols when they discovered the body of their assassinated shinobi, but not this number. There had been a few close calls, but they had finally slipped over the border, and were able to pick up the pace heading towards Hi no Kuni (Fire Country) and Konoha.

Thankfully, his travelling companion had made things less tedious. She had slowly opened up a bit during the trip there. While he didn't know her life story, she had revealed a few things about herself.. She had been curious about him, since she had never really seen anyone dress the way he had, or armed with some of the weapons he was armed with. He had explained a few things he was willing to trust her with, and had even offered to help her train a bit in Konoha after she had settled in.

Raphael shook these thoughts as he presented his identification papers to the chuunin gate cards. "I have business with Hokage-sama, as does this lady with me," he said. Yugito had discarded her headband, and currently had her hood up, though she was without her mask.

One of the chuunin, who had bandages covering the bridge of his nose, nodded. "Alright, you can pass," he said, waving them through. Raphael gathered his papers and they headed off.

As they walked through the streets, Yugito looked around, taking in the sites. "This village seems far more….like a civilian village," she commented to him.

Raphael had noticed that to, after his time spent in Kumo. While there were civilians within Kumo, the majority of the buildings and business centered on the civilian populace were located roughly in one section of the village, while the rest of the village contained many buildings centered more on shinobi. Konoha seemed more like a giant civilian village with some shinobi structures scattered here and there.

Raphael shrugged. "Difference in priorities I guess," he said. "Konoha seems far more interested in peaceful enterprise and diplomacy then it does war."

Yugito sighed. "That's not a good attitude for a shinobi village to have. It makes me wonder how they've remained such a dominant power for so long."

Raphael just gave another shrug as they arrived at the Hokage's Tower. He quickly escorted her up the Tower to Sarutobi's office, where they waited for the secretary to announce them. After a few minutes they were allowed in.

Sarutobi looked up at them. "Raphael-san. Our scouts along the border detected the increased activity of Kumo shinobi. I take it the mission was a success?" He asked.

Raphael nodded as he pulled out the files he had taken from Kosui's apartment. "Here is all the information the man had with him. He was working on a mission called Project Blind Eye. There are other reports as well."

Sarutobi took the file. "Excellent work. Thank you for your aid Raphael-san. You are dismissed."

As Raphael bowed and left, Sarutobi turned to her. "And you must be Kage Neko?" He asked.

Yugito stepped forward. "Hokage-sama, I am Yugito Nii, former chuunin of Kumogakure no Sato and jinchuuriki of the Nibi no Bakeneko (Two tailed Monster cat). I seek asylum within the walls of your village," she said.

Sarutobi's eyes went wide. "D-Did you say….jinchuuriki of the Nibi?" He asked quietly.

Yugito braced herself for the worst. "Yes, I did," she said. Her whole frame was tense, as if ready to run.

Sarutobi quietly cursed at this. It was one thing to give asylum to a genin, chuunin or even low level jounin shinobi. It was another matter entirely to give asylum to a jinchuuriki. This would cause major problems with Kumo, and possibly within the village itself. "I see…this is a rather serious problem. This could lead to war with Kumo, if they found out you were here," he said.

Yugito nodded. "I understand that Hokage-sama, but I think there is a way around that part of the problem. If you'll look through Kosui's files, you'll find he was also working on other operations to infiltrate Iwa, as well as plans to send teams into Kiri to liberate prisoners of the 'Bloodline Purge'. If you were to hold onto those reports, you could use them as leverage against Kumo."

Sarutobi blinked before quickly diving into the files. He soon came up with those plans. "So I see. Well that deals with Kumo. But there is still the matter of problems here," he said, as he quietly laced his fingers and looked over them at the pair. "I will need to inform the Council of who and what you are, and they will no doubt wish to exploit you."

Yugito growled softly. "Do they want to end their chances of gaining my power? I have a full partnership with my biju, one that I worked hard for, to earn her respect and even friendship. If they wish to try and turn me into a tool, I'll happily leave and lend my power to another village! Remind them of that little fact, Hokage-sama," she spat out.

Sarutobi smiled quietly. "You remind me of someone who was taken far too early from this village," he said. "If you are willing to serve a probationary period, and become a shinobi of Konoha, I will grant you asylum. I again warn you though that there are those who may try to exploit you whether through legal or illegal means. And others will not receive you well. Konoha is still suffering from the Kyuubi attack from five years ago."

Yugito bit her lip, as she thought about it. She didn't like the idea of people hating her for what she was. But she would at least have one person she could turn to, in the form of Raphael, yes? And Konoha had a jinchuuriki as well. Perhaps she could talk to them. She finally turned to the one being she trusted most. '_Matabi, what do you think?_'

Inside her mind, she heard a deep female voice respond. "**I think that if the Hokage remains true to his word, you should accept. He's offering you pretty much the chance to lead a mostly normal life, if you wanted to. I doubt many other villages would accept that.**"

Yugito mentally nodded. "I accept, Hokage-sama."

He smiled and nodded. "Excellent. I shall call for a Council Meeting as quickly as possible. Until then, I would like for you to remain at the ANBU headquarters, as it is probably the safest place for you. Until after I have finished informing the Council. Welcome to Konoha," he said, handing her a Konoha headband.

She took it and slowly tied it around her forehead. "Thank you, Hokage-sama," she said.

Meanwhile, Raphael was busy walking through one of Konoha's parks. After an assassination, he liked to take a walk and clear his head, to help deal with the fact that he had taken another person's life. Being an Assassin wasn't easy. A lot was demanded of those who followed the Creed.

He was pulled from his thoughts when he heard some yelling nearby. Curious, he headed towards it. What he found made his blood boil.

Three boys, probably ten or so years old, were laughing as one of them had shoved a small five year old girl into the ground. Said girl was wearing a kimono, and had short indigo blue hair. Her eyes were closed as tears fell from her face, while she was constantly whimpering the word 'sorry' over and over again.

"This'll teach you and your clan to think you're all better then everyone!" One of the boys shouted, as he shoved her face into the ground again. The girl let out a fresh batch of tears, as the boys laughed loudly.

Raphael growled, and prepared to step in when he was beaten to the punch. A small rock struck one of the boys in the back of the head. "Leave her alone!" shouted a small blur that smashed into one of the boys.

Raphael blinked as a blonde haired boy, probably no older then the girl being tormented, started pummeling the boy he had smashed into. The other two quickly let the girl go and rushed over, trying to grab the small blonde boy. They soon yanked him up, and the one who the blonde boy had been attacking stood up, nursing a bleeding lip.

"Well well. The little monster comes to the stuck up princess's defense," he said, growling.

The blonde boy just growled. "Leave her alone you jerks!"

The boy smirked before punching the younger boy in the gut, making him double over in pain. The boy smirked at that. "Not so tough now, huh?! Look at what's happening to the little hero!" He sneered as another punch took the blonde to his knees.

He was raising his fist to punch the blonde again when it was caught in a bigger and stronger fist. "That is enough," Raphael growled angrily, holding the boys fist in place.

The three bullies stopped, seeing this tall intimidating figure. Who also had some intimidating weapons. The two quickly moved away from the downed blonde, as Raphael maneuvered the one he had caught away from him then lightly shoved him away. "I catch any of you bullying someone like that again, I won't be so nice!" He yelled at them, as they ran off. Sighing, he turned to the two children.

The girl had gotten up off the ground and was trying to help the blonde up. Now that her eyes weren't closed, Raphael could see they were lavender colored, and had no pupils. "A-Are you okay?" She stammered out, her voice worried.

The blonde nodded. "Yeah, I'm okay." He managed to say, holding his stomach in pain. "What about you?"

The girl blushed, poking her fingers together as she looked down. "I-I'm better. T-T-Thank you for saving me," she said.

The boy grinned. "Hey, it's no problem! I'm Naruto, Naruto Uzumaki!"

The girl was just about to open her mouth when a voice called out to her. "Hinata-sama! There you are!"

The two children and Raphael looked up as a man with short brown hair hidden under his headband, tied in a bandana style. He also had pure white eyes, similar to the now named Hinata.

Hinata gasped. "K-Ko-san!" she said.

Ko came over. "Hinata-sama, what happened to you?" He demanded, glaring at Raphael and Naruto. "Did they do this to you?"

Hinata quickly shook her head. "N-No Ko-san! They saved me!"

Ko blinked. "I see. Forgive me for jumping to conclusions," he said. "I am Ko Hyuuga of the Hyuuga Clan, and this is Hinata Hyuuga, the heiress."

Raphael raised an eyebrow, remembering Sarutobi and Shikaku mentioning the Hyuuga's when he was being briefed on his mission. "It's nice to meet you both. I am Raphael Cortez."

Ko nodded. "I thank you both for helping Hinata-sama. I must get her back to the Clan Compound though. Please come along Hinata-sama."

Hinata bit her lip and nodded, but not before turning to them both. "T-T-Thank you for saving me," she said, bowing.

Naruto just grinned. "No problem!" He said, while Raphael bowed in return. With that Ko began to lead Hinata away, though the young girl did look back at Naruto before they disappeared.

Raphael turned to the small boy, who was blinking up at him with vivid blue eyes. "You alright?" He asked, studying the strange whisker like birthmarks on the boy's cheeks.

"Yep! Those jerks were weak!" He said, grinning. He blinked. "Hey wait…you saved me! On my birthday!" He said.

Raphael raised an eyebrow, before both eyes widened. "You were that boy, who Anko-san was defending!"

Naruto nodded. "That was me! Can you teach me!?" He asked eagerly. "You beat those bad men, and it was cool! Teach me please!"

Raphael raised an eyebrow. "You want me to teach you? You mean how to fight and stuff?"

Naruto was practically bouncing up and down. "Yeah! I want to be super cool, like you and the old man! Then everyone will respect me!"

Raphael chuckled at his enthusiasm. "I like your spirit. Maybe I can teach you some stuff. With your parents' permission of course," he said.

Naruto's good mood vaporized and he looked down. "I….I don't have any parents. I'm….an orphan," he said.

Raphael's eyes widened. "You mean you have no one?" He asked.

Naruto shook his head. "No….the mean lady at the orphanage kicked me out, and the old man got me an apartment. No one wanted me." A couple tears were falling from his eyes as he said that.

Raphael lowered his head a bit, his hood completely shadowing his face. He found it rather ironic. Him, an orphan, had been rescued off the streets of Rome by Ezio. And now here he was, given the chance to, in a way, do the same. Slowly, he looked up at Naruto.

"I can teach you. If you promise to work hard, and listen to what I say," he said. "I won't teach you everything I know. What I do….what I know….it's only if you want to follow the same path as me. But there are some basic things I can teach you. Do you agree?" He asked.

Naruto nodded eagerly, as Raphael smiled. 'Then meet me back here tomorrow at eight in the morning. We've got work to do."

* * *

**And scene! Seemed like a good place to stop. I hope you all enjoyed the first Assassin assassination within the Elemental Nations. Rest assured, It will definitely not be the last.**

**And now Naruto comes back as the main focus. No more pushing him off to the side.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter a lot. Please let me know what you think, in either a positive or constructive manner. Purely negative, non constructive reviews AKA Flames will simply be acknowledge as another count towards my review total.**

**I'd also like to give a big shout out to my betas! Thank you Bill Alain and Kyuubi123! You guys are awesome!**

**1. From what I've found out, it's unknown if the Sandaime Raikage, or A the Yondaime Raikage ordered the attempt to kidnap Hinata. So I just went with the Yondaime since he seemed the more logical choice, given the fact that Kumo shinobi attempted to abduct Hinata again during the Suna/Oto invasion.**

**Please review!**


	4. The Reasons Why

**Alright! You all were excited to see Naruto back in action, and so here we go! It's time for Naruto to begin his first steps towards Assassinhood!**

**For those of you who might be worried, rest assured that Naruto will remain part of the main focus now. Raphael will no longer be the main focus of the story, though he just won't up and vanish either. He is playing an integral part of Naruto's training.**

**Also, Nightmares Around Winter has put his fanfic Dead Man Walking up for adoption. If you're interested in writing a bloodline Naruto fanfic, give him a call. Or if you know someone who is, tell them about it.**

**One last note before we begin. If anyone reading this is a Mass Effect fan, Mandalore the free has a Mass effect challenge fanfic! So contact him if you're interested in learning more and/or you want to take up his challenge!**

**Now on with the show!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto (property of Masashi Kishimoto) or Assassin's Creed (property of Ubisoft).

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**The Reasons Why**

It was early the next morning. Raphael was waiting quietly in the park, waiting for Naruto to arrive. He smiled, watching the sun rising in the sky as he waited.

He grinned as he heard hurried footsteps behind him. He turned, seeing Naruto rush over. "I'm here sensei!" he panted, leaning over.

Raphael smiled, as he studied Naruto. The young boy was dressed in dark pants, a sort of dull dark blue, with a white shirt with a red spiral on it, relatively good clothes for training. He approached Naruto.

"I'm glad you were on time Naruto. Now come with me and I'll explain what I'm going to train you in," he said, as he began to walk away. Naruto quickly fell in step with him.

"What I'm going to do is simple Naruto. I'm going to train you in the basics of unarmed combat. I believe shinobi call it taijutsu. I'll also teach you some exercises to make you stronger and faster," Raphael said.

Naruto grinned. "Will I get cool blades like those ones that came out from under your arms?!" He asked excitedly.

Raphael shook his head. "I'm afraid not Naruto. These blades are reserved for those who follow the Creed of the Assassins. The only way you could have one of your own would be to join the Assassins. I will train you in basic things that are not specifically part of the Assassins. Afterwards, once I have run out of things to teach you, we will see if you have potential. I will warn you though, being an Assassin is not about being famous or strong. It's about being committed to ideals and a cause that others may hate you for. It is not for those who are not ready to commit to it."

Naruto nodded, a little shaken. Raphael smiled, wanting to cheer him up. "I will also be teaching you other things as well. If you are going to become a ninja, you'll need to be smart as well as strong. And, you can join me in learning basics of chakra, such as control," he said with a grin.

Naruto became excited about that, with a huge grin. He became even more excited when they arrived at a training ground.

Anko was busy sitting on a tree branch, her legs crossed in front of her as she leaned back against the tree trunk, chewing on the last bit of dango. She saw Raphael approach and flung the empty skewer at his feet. "You're late," she said, hopping down. "And what's with the shrimp?" She asked, before blinking. "Wait…you're Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto blinked. "And you're the dango lady who protected me from those jerks!"

Anko grinned, puffing her chest out a bit. "That's me, kid. Anko Mitarashi, at your service. But what are you doing here?"

He hopped up and down excitedly. "Raphael-sensei is going to teach me some stuff!" He said with an excited grin.

Anko raised an eyebrow while Raphael shrugged. "I saw him trying to defend a little girl getting bullied yesterday, and I thought he deserved some training. I also thought you could give him a hand as well, with chakra training."

The purple haired chuunin rubbed the back of her head. "Weeeeelllll, I guess I could," she said with a grin. "Alright then. Why don't you get him started on training and stuff, and then we'll work some more on your chakra control."

Raphael nodded as he turned to Naruto. "Alright then. Let's start off with some basic exercise, alright?" He asked.

So he got Naruto going on stretches, and basic exercises like pushups and sit ups, before ordering him to run five laps around the clearing they were in. The clearing wasn't especially large, but it was big to a five year old, and was surrounded by trees on three sides. So while Naruto was running the laps, Anko was helping Raphael refine his chakra control.

Once Naruto finished the laps, he collapsed, panting heavily. Raphael gave him some water and let him rest, before having him stand back up.

"What I'm going to teach you Naruto is a very defense oriented fighting style," Raphael said, only to see Naruto's confused face. Raphael mentally smacked his forehead before choosing simpler terms. "I'm going to show you a way to fight that relies on you stopping or dodging your enemies attack, and then striking back at them when there is an opening, okay?"

Naruto nodded eagerly, as Raphael got into the stance, sliding his left foot back a bit and bringing his hands up to about face height, the left hand behind the right. "Now if Anko-san would mind assisting me by attacking me?" He asked.

Anko smirked as she moved forward, launching a quick striking jab at Raphael. The Assassin shifted, blocking and deflecting the attack to one side before throwing a quick punch at Anko, who managed to jump back in time. She went in again with flurry of jabs and strikes, all of which Raphael either deflected or dodged either to the sides or back away from. He waited till he had deflected one particular strike before moving in, striking at her arm near the shoulder, then her side, then at her face, stopping short from hitting her. He stepped back and nodded before looking to Naruto.

"You see, the trick is to absorb the enemy attacks, or avoid them, until you either see an opening to attack with, or you can create an opening to attack with. Of course you can attack if your enemy doesn't have a strong defense, and end the fight there. The whole point of this style of fighting is to find that moment when you can end the fight quickly. You understand?"

Naruto blinked. "I think so," he said.

Raphael grinned. "Then let's get started. First, assume this stance," he said, showing him. Naruto tried to mimic him, but Raphael stopped him and reversed it. "Sorry, I'm left handed. You'll want to do what I do with the opposite side," he said.

Naruto nodded as Raphael finished fixing his stance. "Alright then. Now let's work on blocking. I'm going to punch lightly at you, so you block for now, okay?" He asked.

Naruto nodded eagerly, and Raphael began to lightly punch at him. Naruto worked on blocking the punches. Raphael nodded as he continued to lightly punch. "Very good. This has the added benefit of slowly toughening your arms up. It won't do you any good to be able to block if your arm muscles aren't tough enough to take the blows," he said.

Naruto nodded as Raphael sped up a bit, punching a little bit harder. Naruto kept blocking, until Raphael stopped. "Alright. Now try deflecting. Instead of just taking the blow, trying to knock the blow to the side, or move your arms so it slides off to the side. Ready?"

Anko smiled as she watched Raphael work with Naruto. He seemed to be a natural teacher.

However, none of them were aware of the figure watching, before disappearing into the trees.

_Konoha Council Chambers, later that day_

Sarutobi sighed as he sat down, examining those present in the room. Yesterday, he had sent out summons to the Council Members to appear today for a special meeting.

The Council was made up of three parts. The Civilian Council was made up of representatives voted from the civilian population. They represented the various business and utilities that were run by and maintained by civilians. It was their job to advise the entirety of the Council on situations involving the Civilians, and to offer up legislation involving Civilian matters, that would then be voted on by the entirety of the Council. However, they had slowly begun working their way into influencing some legislation that also affected shinobi. The greatest example would be a piece of legislation that was introduced three years ago that had made the Shinobi Academy in Konoha more 'Civilian friendly', making it easier for aspiring shinobi students who did not have parents who were shinobi.

The Clan Council was made up of the heads of the most notable clans of Konoha. They kept the Hokage advised on events involving their clans, as well as legislation involving their clans, which were also voted on by the whole Council. In this way, the Clans and Civilian Councils could keep each other in check; ensuring one side didn't pass a law that would favor one side over the other.

The final part was the Shinobi Council, made up of the Shinobi Elders of the village. It was their job to act as advisors to the Hokage, and in the event of a deadlock vote, they were allowed to vote as well. The Shinobi Council was currently made up of Homura Mitokado and Koharu Utatane, Hiruzen Sarutobi's old teammates. They were often accompanied by Danzou Shimura, a fellow shinobi from their time when they were all active duty ninjas.

Sarutobi nodded to everyone present. "I thank you all for coming," he said as he leaned forward. "I called you all here to discuss something of the gravest importance. What is spoken in this meeting does not leave these walls without my expressed permission. Anyone who is unwilling to abide by that must leave immediately."

When no one did, Sarutobi continued. "Approximately a month ago, we received word from our informant in Kumo that they were beginning a new plan to attempt to steal the Byakugan from this village. The planning of this operation was being headed by the Kumo ninja responsible for planning the previous attempt to steal the Byakugan. Our informant in Kumo agreed to aid us in silencing this ninja, in exchange for asylum here in Konoha," he said.

There were quiet murmurs amongst the Council members, before Hiashi Hyuuga, head of the Hyuuga Clan, spoke up. "So I assume we are here to vote on if we accept those terms?"

Sarutobi shook his head. "No Hiashi-san. I already agreed to those terms, and gave the go ahead on the mission. Six days ago, on the night of December 27th, the Kumo ninja was assassinated and all plans he had for attempting to steal the Byakugan were retrieved and brought here to Konoha."

Shibi Aburame, the head of the insect wielding Aburame clan, spoke up in his monotone voice. His face was mostly hidden by a pair of goggles and the high collar of the coat he wore. "Hokage-sama, do you not perhaps consider these actions a bit extreme? What if Kumo traced the attempt back to us?"

Sarutobi smiled quietly. "I understand your worries, Shibi-san. But rest assured the one I sent was not a well-known member of Konoha. Even if he had been caught, we could have claimed innocent in the matter. Though I would be loathed to do so."

Danzou quietly and coldly watched Sarutobi, while mentally, he thought, '_That is your weakness Hiruzen. You are unwilling to make the sacrifices necessary to achieve victory_'.

Sarutobi continued. "The man I sent into Kumo is a recent newcomer to the village. He is a man skilled in the art of assassinations, and he has agreed to work alongside Konoha. He has even offered to train members of the village in his craft, if he finds them worthy. I have already tested his skills, and even without the use of chakra, he is more than a match for most chuunin shinobi in a fight."

The clan heads looked to each other in some surprise. While it was not unheard of civilians being able to best some chuunin ranked shinobi, this was mostly due to years and years of extensive training. Whoever this man was, he must be highly skilled. The only one who seemed unimpressed was Fugaku Uchiha, head of the Uchiha clan and the Konoha Police Force. Which was entirely run by the Uchiha clan, courtesy of the Nidaime Hokage.

At this point, Danzou spoke up. "It is interesting you should bring this man up, Hokage-sama," he said. "I was recently informed that just this morning, an unknown man was seen in the company of one Anko Mitarashi, and the Kyuubi jinchuuriki. I was told that Anko was training him in controlling his chakra, and that the man was actually training the boy Naruto Uzumaki.

There were some angry murmurs amongst the civilians, while the clan heads mostly remained neutral in their expressions. Sarutobi quickly raised a hand for silence, before addressing Danzou. "I assigned Chuunin Mitarashi to teach Raphael-san, for that is his name, how to utilize his chakra, so he might be more effective in helping us. As for Raphael-san training Naruto, I was unaware that he even knew the boy. But what is your concern?"

Danzou lightly tapped the cane he had on the floor. Due to war injuries, Danzou's right eye was wrapped in bandages, his right arm was in a sling, and his left leg had been crippled slightly, making it hard for him to move.

"Hokage-sama, my concern is that an unknown person is interacting with the container of the most powerful biju in the Elemental Nations. He could be manipulating the boy, seeking to turn him against Konoha. Or render the boy useless to us," Danzou said.

The aged Hokage sighed. "I can assure you Danzou-san that none of those things will happen. Raphael-san is unaware of Naruto's status as jinchuuriki, and I and Inoichi-san can personally vouch for his trustworthiness. He is not a threat to anyone in this room unless they make themselves a threat."

Danzou grudgingly backed down, as Sarutobi continued. "We have gotten off topic. The point of this meeting was to discuss the Kumo informant who came with Raphael-san from Kumo. Upon their arrival, I learned of the true identity of our informant," he said, before signaling one of the ANBU at the door.

Said ANBU nodded before opening the door and beckoning the figure outside to enter. In entered a young fifteen year old kunoichi with blonde hair in a braid. She bowed to Sarutobi and the others. "Hokage-sama," she said.

Sarutobi nodded. "This is Yugito Nii, formerly a kunoichi of Kumo and until recently our informant within the walls of Kumo. She is also the jinchuuriki of the Nibi biju."

There were loud exclamations at this, most of them in surprise. A few of the civilians had rather angry and frightened looks, while the shinobi were all tense now. Taking the biju or jinchuuriki from another village, even if they defected, was grounds for war. Even the civilians new that.

One of them, the head of the merchant's guild, spoke up. "Hokage-sama, surely we cannot give her asylum? Kumo will surely demand her back and will try to go to war over her. We barely made peace with them after the Hyuuga Affair," he said.

Sarutobi nodded. "It is true that Kumo will probably demand she be returned. But they will not go to war with us. Raphael-san and Yugito-san here saw to that. I will not say how, but just know that Kumo will not go to war with us."

At this point Hiashi spoke up. "Hokage-sama, surely we cannot trust her? Her village was responsible for the attempted kidnapping of my daughter and the death of my brother. She is more than likely a double agent, here to spy and sabotage before returning to her masters."

Fugaku leaned forward. "Hiashi-san raises a good point. She should be kept within the holding cells of the Uchiha Prison Facility, until we can determine she is not a double agent," he said, while mentally, he thought, '_She will make an excellent weapon to use in the coup. Once she is broken'_.

Before anyone else could speak, Killer Intent erupted from the teenage girl, who glared at Hiashi. "I would never serve those bastards!" She said, growling. "You don't know what they put me through. What they did to train me!"

Shikaku sighed. "It's troublesome, but Hiashi raises a good point. How can we trust you, Yugito-san? What made you betray your village?" He asked.

Yugito trembled. "I...it is rather personal," she said quietly. "Can I….can I tell only Hokage-sama? In private?"

The Council looked at each other, before Sarutobi spoke up. "I would ask that Shikaku Nara and Inoichi Yamanaka be allowed to hear as well Yugito-san. I'm sorry, but it is the best way to vouch for you, and allow you asylum in the village."

She nodded quietly, as the trio stood up and led her outside the room. The Council Members looked at each other for several minutes, wondering if what she was talking about with the Hokage could really be that bad.

After about ten minutes, the quarter of people returned. Inoichi and Shikaku both quietly sat down, not saying anything, while Sarutobi sadly looked at Yugito, before sitting down. "I have come to the conclusion that Yugito-san is not a double agent of Kumo. She is in fact heartfelt in her wish to not only seek asylum here in Konoha, but also become a Konoha shinobi. As such, Yugito Nii will undergo one month of as a probationary chuunin, before being made a full chuunin of Konoha. I ask that all the clan heads inform the shinobi members of their clan ranked chuunin and higher of Yugito's status within the village. I will handle the non-clan ninjas. If I find out that anyone leaked Yugito's status to those not authorized to know, they will be imprisoned and executed for betraying village secrets. Understood?" He asked.

Everyone nodded, some grudgingly, as Sarutobi sat back. "Since Yugito will also be a shinobi of the village, I expect that the shops and other business of this village will treat her in a civil and respectable manner. If I hear otherwise, severe consequences will be brought down upon the criminal parties. Dismissed," he said.

Most of the Council left while Yugito was escorted to the Hokage's office to await his orders. However, Danzou quietly approached Sarutobi, wishing to speak with him. "Hokage-sama, I must protest you granting the jinchuuriki asylum. At least without hearing her reasons for betraying her village," he said.

Sarutobi just glared at his old rival. The two had gone through the Academy together, and had been rivals and best friends. But that friendship had become strained during the Second Shinobi War, when the Nidaime Hokage had named Sarutobi the Sandaime Hokage, before sacrificing himself to stop the Kumo shinobi sent to ambush them. As time went on, Danzou had drifted away from the teachings of the Shodai and Nidaime Hokage's, putting him even more at odds with Sarutobi, who was utterly devoted to their teachings. Eventually, the friendship had pretty much dissolved, and now they were on opposite sides of the same board, each believing they knew what was best for Konoha.

Sarutobi finally answered. "Yugito-san's reasons are private, and they are sincere. You will follow my orders Danzou. Is that understood?"

Danzou grudgingly nodded. "Very well Hokage-sama. But perhaps you might hear me out on this then. If you would let me take her or Naruto under my wing, I could properly train them to become powerful weapons to protect Konoha and her interests. We cannot let such opportunities go to waste."

Sarutobi shook his head. "I will not let you turn them into your emotionless puppets Danzou. A jinchuuriki's power comes from their emotions. It's what fuels their ability to utilize their biju's chakra. You would strip away those emotions, and in the process, cripple them of their true potential. And even if I did agree to give you Yugito-san, I would not allow you to sink your claws into the Yondaime's legacy. Do I make myself clear?"

Danzou turned away. "Crystal, Hokage-sama," he said, as he quietly left.

The aged Hokage sighed as he headed to his office. He would need to talk to Raphael. The Assassin needed to know what he was getting into if he was going to train Naruto. Last thing he wanted was for Raphael to hear the wrong thing about the young boy.

_Two hours later_

Raphael hummed quietly to himself as he went to get a somewhat late lunch. He had trained Naruto in the basics of blocking and deflecting enemy attacks, and had shown him how to punch and kick at his enemy when he was ready to strike back. The way Naruto seemed to normally do it was with wild punches meant more for power than anything else. Raphael had shown him how to punch without over balancing or leaving himself wide open. Anko had then stepped in, and showed Naruto a training post, telling him he could not only practice his attacks on it, but also use it to strengthen the muscles in his arms and legs, causing them to absorb more damage without failing.

Afterwards, Anko had started showing Naruto how to access his chakra, after explaining what it was. Naruto hadn't been able to fully call upon his chakra when Anko told him to stop, but he had started to feel it.

To finish it all up, Raphael had started teaching him the game of chess, something Ezio had all his Assassin recruits do. It taught them to be able to see all the details in a situation, and taught them how to plan ahead. At first there was no time limit, but as each recruit became more proficient, Ezio added in a time limit on how long they could plan each move, forcing them to think and mentally react faster.

Unfortunately, Konoha didn't have any chess sets like Raphael was used to. Instead, they had a game similar to it called Shougi. So Raphael had improvised, using pieces from the Shougi game as replacements for chess pieces, until he could maybe get a set custom made.

Naruto had at first complained about learning how to play what he thought was a boring game. But then Raphael had pointed out that learning to play chess could be very helpful. It would allow him to be able to study his enemies and situations, notice weakness in enemies, and plan things out ahead of time. Which were all very important if he wanted to be a ninja, or got into fights. Afterwards Naruto tried his best to pay attention.

Once they had called it a day, Raphael had arranged to meet Naruto outside that training ground again the next day, to continue his training. For now, he suggested Naruto practice everything they had taught him so far. Naruto nodded and eagerly rushed off to do so, while Anko headed off to relax.

Raphael was just about to enter a small café like place he had found to eat at when he was stopped by an ANBU. "Raphael-san, Hokage-sama wishes to speak with you as soon as possible."

Raphael sighed, figuring whatever it was must be very important, considering the ANBU had said 'as soon as possible'. He nodded to the ANBU and started to head towards the Hokage Tower.

Sarutobi quietly finished signing the last of the paperwork needed to make Yugito Nii a probationary chuunin of Konoha. He set the papers aside, and sat back, thinking about his upcoming meeting. Raphael needed to know what he was getting into, if he ended up continuing to train Naruto. He didn't want the young Assassin to be given incomplete or even incorrect information concerning Naruto.

At that moment, there was a knock on the office door. He let out a breath, as the moment of truth came. "Enter," he said.

Raphael came in, closing the door behind him and bowing. "You summoned me, Hokage-sama?" He asked.

Sarutobi nodded. "Please, take a seat Raphael-san. There's something I wish to discuss."

As Raphael sat down, Sarutobi quietly pulled out a pipe, put some smoking tobacco into it, and lit it. He puffed on it a few times, before speaking. "I understand you started training a young boy today named Naruto Uzumaki."

Raphael blinked at that. "Well, I was starting to train him in some basic fighting stances and such. I met him when he tried to save a young girl form bullies, and I thought he could use the help."

Sarutobi nodded. "And I am not against that. I did not wish to make it seem that way. But rather, I wanted to talk to you about the boy. You see…there is a grave secret about Naruto Uzumaki. Something having to do with the day he was born. And I feel that if you're going to continue to train the boy, and continue to aid Konoha, you'll need to know the truth about him. But first, have any of your lessons with Anko concerning the history of the Elemental Nations covered something called the biju?"

Raphael slowly shook his head. "I'm afraid not, Hokage-sama. What are they?"

Sarutobi took a few moments to collect his thoughts, before he spoke. "Quite simply, the biju are nine masses of sentient chakra that takes the physical form of an animal with multiple tails, denoting its power level. Ancient legends say they were once part of a giant monster known as the Juubi, since the creature had ten tails. However, the creator of all ninjutsu, the Rikudou Sennin (Sage of Six Paths), fought against this terrible creature, and ended up sealing it within himself, becoming what was known as a jinchuuriki. As he neared the end of his life, the Rikudou Sennin ended up splitting the Juubi's chakra into nine separate entities. What he did with the body, we're not sure. But these nine entities spread across the land. As time went on, they were sealed away into people, creating more jinchuuriki's. Now, they're spread throughout the villages. You, in fact, have run into two of them already. One of them is Yugito Nii, who is contained of the Nibi, the Two Tailed Cat."

Raphael's eyes widened. "Naruto…he's the other one containing one of these biju, isn't he?"

Sarutobi nodded. "Indeed. Five years ago, on the night of his birth, the Kyuubi attacked Konoha. My predecessor, the Yondaime Hokage, sealed the Kyuubi within Naruto, asking him to be seen as a hero. Sadly, that has not come to pass. I was forced to pass a law that prevented anyone from speaking of the Kyuubi being sealed into Naruto, without my permission. It was done in a hope that Naruto could have a normal life. But the people ignore or glare at Naruto, saying hateful things they think he or others cannot hear. And they are trying to turn their children against him as well."

Raphael clenched his fists, trembling. "And you were afraid I would do the same?"

Sarutobi sighed. "I was afraid what you might do, if you heard this information from the wrong source. So, what are your intentions?"

Raphael looked down, his hair covering his eyes. "…I'm going to continue to train the boy. I'm going to watch out for him. And if need be…I will take him under my wing and make him an Assassin. No one should have to go through what he is going through."

Sarutobi raised an eyebrow. "You are not afraid of him? He does carry what basically amounts to a demon inside of him."

Raphael growled. "That doesn't make him one!" He shouted, slamming a fist onto the desk.

Sarutobi smiled at that. "Then by all means, Raphael-san. Continue to teach him," he said with a tone of satisfaction and relief in his voice. "I only ask that if you do decide to offer him a place within your Brotherhood, you let him also choose to become a ninja, if he so wishes. And also, please do not speak about this matter to anyone who is not currently chuunin ranked or higher."

The young Assassin nodded quietly. "As you wish, Hokage-sama. May I ask where Naruto lives?" He asked. Sarutobi nodded and gave him directions. With a bow, Raphael left as Sarutobi smiled quietly.

"Take care of him Raphael. He needs people like you," he said softly.

_The Next Morning_

Raphael sighed quietly as he headed towards Naruto's apartment. It was early in the morning, but he wanted to pick Naruto up, make sure he got a healthy breakfast.

He was walking through a less friendly part of the village. Despite being a shinobi village, the rather large civilian population had given rise to a more dangerous 'red light' district. Here dwelled the thieves, prostitutes, and others of a 'less than preferable' profession. It wasn't exactly the place one would expect to find a child living on their own, though Raphael resolved to come back here later for an alternate reason. Places like this were also the ideal place to make contacts for information. These kinds of people always seemed to know what was going on.

He eventually found Naruto's apartment. It was in the nicest part of this district of the village, in that it was close to a residential district. Raphael made his way up to the floor with Naruto's apartment, before knocking. He didn't hear anything at first, so he knocked again. This time he heard some rapid shuffling and a muffled voice, before footsteps approached the door. Then Naruto's voice came from inside. "W-Who is it?"

Raphael smiled. "It's Raphael," he said simply.

Almost immediately, some unlocks were heard being undone, and Naruto opened the door. "Raphael-sensei! What are you doing here?" He asked.

Raphael smiled. "I came by to make sure you ate a healthy breakfast. That's another part of your training from now on. Eating healthy."

Naruto made a disgusted face. "You mean things like those green plant things?"

Raphael chuckled as he entered. "If you mean vegetables, then yes. But not right now. Now we're going to focus on breakfast," he said, not noticing Naruto's slightly panicked look.

Raphael looked around Naruto's apartment as he entered. It was a small three room apartment. The kitchen and living room were combined into one room, with the bedroom being the second and what looked like a bathroom as the third. Raphael went over to the fridge and opened it, only to find one of the cartons used to hold milk, and three eggs. Raphael blinked before turning to Naruto. "Do you have any food in here?" He asked.

Naruto nodded. "Yeah! The best food ever!" he eagerly opened a cupboard, revealing dozens of cups with paper lids. Raphael picked one up and read it.

"Instant ramen. So…this is all you've got?" He asked.

Naruto looked down a bit, shuffling his foot. "I-It's all I can afford really, with the money Jiji-san gives me."

Raphael sighed quietly, shaking his head. "Alright then. That's what we're going to do after training today. Buy you some real groceries and make sure you get all the types of food you need." He said.

Naruto was about to complain when there was the sound of a door swinging open and what sounded like a small yip or something. Raphael had immediately moved in front of Naruto, hidden blade extended, only to blink in surprise when he saw the source of the noise.

The source of the noise was a small red furred fox kit that was currently laying splayed leg on the floor outside of what looked like a closet in Naruto's room. The animal though had some rather interesting traits that made it different from any fox Raphael had seen. For one it had strange black teardrop markings around its hazel, almost golden eyes. And it had rather long looking ears.

Naruto gasped and rushed over, picking the fox kit up and looking like he was shielding it form Raphael. "P-Please, don't hurt him!" He said.

Raphael raised an eyebrow as he retracted the hidden blade. "Why would I hurt him?" He asked.

Naruto looked down a bit. "B-Because some mean people tried to kill him," he said quietly. "His leg was really hurt, by what looked like a knife. I found him in an alley, so I took care of him. But the people…they don't like foxes. Please…don't tell anyone about him!"

Raphael nodded. "I promise Naruto. I won't tell anyone about him. What's his name?"

The little fox kit, having recovered when Naruto picked him up, began licking Naruto's face, who giggled. "I named him Tomo (Friend). Because he's my friend," he said with a smile.

Raphael grinned. "Well it's a pleasure to meet you Tomo," he said, as he came over and gently held his hand out. The small fox kit hesitantly stuck his nose out and sniffed Raphael's hand, before tentatively licking it. Raphael smiled, as he pulled his hand back.

"Tell you what Naruto. Why don't you bring him along? I'm sure he'd love some fresh air and stuff. And maybe we could get some food for him to?" Raphael suggested. When he saw Naruto's frightened and worried face, Raphael glanced around the apartment before spotting what looked like a small backpack. "You could carry him in that, and no one would see him," he said, pointing to it.

Naruto's eyes widened, and he nodded. "Yeah!" he said, as Tomo yipped excitedly, tail wagging. Naruto grabbed the pack, and Tomo eagerly hopped in, laying down as Naruto mostly closed the backpack save for an open part so Tomo could breathe and see. Then he stood up, putting it on his back.

Raphael grinned at that. "Now let's go. We've got three hungry bellies to feed," he said, as Naruto cheered and followed him out of the apartment. As they stepped outside, Raphael's eyes hardened as he saw a few of the neighbor's glare at Naruto.

'_Ignorant souls. Blaming him for something beyond his control,_' he thought, before mentally sighing. '_It is as the Creed says. "Nothing is True". What they believe to be true is false. But to them, the truth is false, and their false beliefs are the truth. Such is the way of the world._' He glanced at Naruto, who smiled up at him as they headed down the stairs to the street. '_Naruto, I hope you let me teach you that one day, so that you might better bear the burdens upon you._'

He shook his head of those thoughts as he heard Naruto talk excitedly about training, asking questions. He smiled as he walked with the young boy, his darker thoughts forgotten. Naruto still had time to be young and innocent. Time that he should enjoy. And Raphael would let him have that.

_Apartment Complex in Konoha_

Yugito sighed as she unpacked what few personal belongings she had brought from Kumo, and placed them around her new home. There wasn't a whole lot. A few books and some clothes, which she put away. But the next pair of items she unsealed made her stop.

Slowly, Yugito pulled out a pair of strange weapons. They both had H shaped grips, with metal basket gauntlets protecting the hands from blows. Extending forward from the gauntlets was a wide pointed blade, about maybe one and a half feet in length.

As she gripped both the handles of the weapons, she pulled back on a trigger handle right above the main grip. As she did, the blades on each weapon separated into three separate blades, before returning to one blade as she released the trigger.

She slowly set the weapons down. They were called katars, and were an ancient weapon design that came from across the ocean to the east. And they had belonged to a man Yugito considered to be a great and powerful ninja. She slowly picked up a picture that had been with the pair of weapons. In it was a much younger version of herself smiling happily as she was held in the arms of a blonde woman with bright green eyes. Next to her was a man with brown hair and dark brown, almost black eyes. Each of them wore ninja attire and had Kumo headbands, and were smiling as well.

Yugito let a single tear drop and hit the picture. "Mom…dad…I'll make you both proud," she whispered quietly, as she hugged the picture to herself.

* * *

**And scene!**

**Well, this chapter was annoying to write. I swear, I got up to the part after the Council meeting, and my mind just would not work. I couldn't write that scene at all. **

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. And yes, I gave Yugito tri bladed katars. Someone pointed out that katars would be an excellent weapon for Hinata to use in one of my previous fanfics. But when I thought about it, it just didn't feel right to me. I wasn't sure why, especially considering the fighting style I'll give Hinata in this could maybe utilize katars rather efficiently.**

**But the more I thought about it, the more I felt this was better suited for someone like Yugito, especially the tri blade design ones. It's fast, efficient, and can resemble cat claws, which Yugito would like considering her tenant.**

**So, I hope you all like this chapter. I'm a little worried about it, but then again, I'm always worried about anything I write. But guess we'll see what you all think.**

**Also, pre Happy Birthday to me! **

**Now please Review! Unless you're going to flame me, at which point, still review, so I can ignore it and simply enjoy seeing the number of reviews go up. **


	5. Expanding the Order

**Sorry for the long wait folks. I just couldn't write at all for some reason. I just kept staring at my chapters, trying to write, and yet my body would turn over to Netflix and pop on Danny Phantom or Futurama.**

**But, I finally got off my lazy ass, and got to work! And here are the fruits of my labor!**

**I hope you all enjoy this chapter. And if not, let me know how I can improve. In a constructive manner that is. **

**In other news, John the Angel is looking for a beta for his upcoming NarutoxInheritance Cycle crossover. If you're interested, please give him a PM.**

**And now, on with the show!**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Assassin's Creed. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Ubisoft respectively.

* * *

**Chapter 5**

**Expanding the Order**

Raphael sighed quietly as he read over a scroll on element manipulation while sitting on his bed. It had been two weeks since he had learned the truth about Naruto. He had taken him out to get groceries, only to be disgusted with some of the glares and cold indifferent glances the boy had gotten. When they arrived at the grocery store, Raphael had been initially expecting to find out that the clerks and such overcharged him for his food. But as it turned out, that wasn't the case. The reason Naruto stocked up on ramen was because it was very cheap to buy it in bulk. Naruto simply bought ramen so he could have a lot of food, and could put away the rest as an emergency fund or to buy new sets of clothes and other necessities.

Raphael promised Naruto from then on he would help pay for half of Naruto's grocery bill so Naruto could keep saving his money.

Since then, Naruto had been eating more healthy food, though he was still allowed to have ramen every now and then during the week. He had also taken to bringing Tomo along to their training sessions each morning. The little fox kit eagerly ran around, exploring and enjoying the fresh air and sunshine. When Naruto would do his laps, Tomo would chase after him, yipping excitedly. Afterwards the fox kit would sit under a tree, watching Naruto go through his taijutsu training. Naruto would alternate sparring with Raphael and Anko, who was still training Raphael in the ninja arts. That training was starting to draw to a close though, as Anko had been charged with covering the basics of the main ninja arts, and then Raphael would be able to work on his own form there.

Yugito had also taken to joining their training sessions, since she didn't really know anyone else in Konoha. Since she was a probationary chuunin, and formerly from another village, she hadn't been given any missions yet beyond some patrols through the village. She would probably also be sent on very basic C-ranked missions, involving bandit clearing or escorts well within the borders of Fire Country.

Raphael had pulled her aside, and quietly mentioned to her how he knew about her tenant. When she had stiffened, he quickly re-assured her that he didn't think any less of her, and in fact his respect for her had increased, since baring such power was a huge burden and responsibility.

Naruto's training had been progressing nicely so far. He was gaining a firm grasp on the basics of the taijutsu style Raphael was teaching him, and was working hard to master the basics, as well as strengthen his body to better absorb damage. He also was still learning chess, and while he was a still far away from winning a match, he was getting the hang of it.

Raphael set aside his scroll as he sat back, contemplating his future training with Naruto. Naruto so far was showing potential to be an Assassin. He was a quick learner, he was starting to become fast and agile, but what had impressed him was when he first met the boy. He had been willing to stand up to three older bullies to help someone in need, even when it was obvious he had no chance of winning. It was a quality that could make him a good Assassin, provided he could also gain the right mindset. While the Assassin's did stand against injustices, they were not noble knights or champions. Their goal was to safeguard the freedom of humanity from the shadows. To protect it against those who manipulated humanity from the shadows, and thought to take their lives and freedom from them. It was not their place to right every wrong and punish every evil-doer, as some crimes were better left to those whose job it was to handle such criminals and problems.

However, Raphael knew his time with Naruto would be limited soon. In six or seven months, Naruto would be entering the Shinobi Academy, to begin training to be a shinobi of Konoha. Raphael intended, if Naruto continued to show the promise he had seen so far, to offer Naruto the chance to become an Assassin before that point in time. If Naruto accepted, then Raphael needed to know what Naruto would be learning in the Academy, so that he could plan accordingly. It would be redundant of him to plan to teach Naruto skills that the Academy might teach Naruto anyways. Perhaps the Hokage could provide him with a general overview of what the Academy taught its students?

Getting up, he stretched his back before glancing at his Assassin robes sitting on a clothing/armor stand he had found in an antique store. He glanced at the robes, then out the window of his bedroom at the people below. He grinned as he donned his crimson robes and slid out the window, climbing up to the roof of his building. While he now was more than capable of scaling the side of the building using chakra, there was no harm in keeping his skills sharp. There could come a time where he couldn't climb with chakra, and thus would need to rely on the skills drilled into him by his mentor, Ezio.

Reaching the roof, he grinned as he ran towards the edge and leapt off, sailing through the air and landing on an adjacent roof. Feeling the familiar rush of excitement and adrenaline that came with running from rooftop to rooftop, he quickly made his way towards the Academy, occasionally using chakra to boost his jumps when he came to gaps that were too far for even him.

About ten minutes later he found himself perched on a rooftop opposite the Academy. He crouched down, studying the building.

It was a large affair, actually being more than one building. In fact, there were at least three that he could see, with each building being three stories in height. There were also a few training fields attached to the buildings, where he could see some young children busy running laps, sparring with taijutsu, and practicing with kunai and shuriken.(1)

Raphael studied the students outside the Academy first, seeing what they were being taught and such. The students working out were currently running laps around the field in formation. Some of them seemed out of breath, while others were still maintaining a steady rate of breathing.

His eyes then moved to the taijutsu sparring ring. In it two boys were currently sparring. One of them had long brown hair and wore what looked like bandages tied around his forehead. He was currently decimating the other boy, who had untamed black hair and rather sizeable eyebrows. Eventually he was knocked from the ring, as the brown haired boy was declared the victor. The instructor seemed to talk to them a bit, before the two boys shook hands, though only the black haired one seemed willing to do it.

He then turned his gaze towards the third group that was practicing with what appeared to be kunai and shuriken. Some of them were standing in a row, throwing shuriken at target posts. Others were being led through different attacks and blocks with their kunai by their chuunin instructor. Raphael tilted his head as he continued to watch their movements, before turning his gaze towards the buildings. Sadly, he couldn't see much from here, other then there were numerous students in several of the classrooms he could see into through the windows. Most were busy either listening to a chuunin teach them, or were reading their text books.

Raphael studied them for a bit. There seemed to be a far greater amount inside the classrooms then there were outside at the moment. That puzzled him. They were training to be shinobi, so why were the majority of them inside listening to lectures and such? Perhaps he was missing something, and the lectures were on the use of chakra, and various ninjutsu they might encounter and/or use in their careers. Deciding to get a full picture from the Hokage, he turned his gaze towards the Hokage's Tower, before nodding. He immediately began his run towards the tower.

Sarutobi sighed quietly as he worked on some documents. The one he was on currently was a requisition for funds to expand civilian housing in the northeastern district of Konoha. Sarutobi denied it, as that would expand it into one of the Training Grounds for Shinobi.

He sighed as he sat back, rubbing his temples. Some of this paperwork was just getting ridiculous. At times it felt like the civilians were purposefully trying to push the Shinobi, to see how far they could go. He blamed the Nidaime Hokage, for creating the stupid Civilian Council in the first place.

He looked up as his secretary opened the door. "Hokage-sama? Raphael-san is here to see you," she said.

Sarutobi blinked before nodding. "Please send him in," he said, wondering what Raphael wanted, and wanted a distraction from his paperwork.

Raphael entered and nodded to Sarutobi. "Hokage-sama," he said. "I'm sorry to bother you, but I have a request I'd like to make," he said.

The Sandaime blinked before indicated one of the chairs before his desk. Raphael took that as a sign to continue, which he did after sitting down. "It's regarding me potentially recruiting members of your Shinobi Academy into the Brotherhood. Rest assured I will only approach them with your permission, and even then I may wait until after they graduate. But if I'm going to do so, I wish to learn more about what the Academy is teaching them," he said.

Sarutobi sat back, steepling his fingers in thought. "I see," he said. "And may I ask why you wish to know this?" He asked.

Raphael nodded. "Of course. My reason for wanting to know this is simple. I want to know what the Academy is teaching them, so I know what I'll need to teach them as an Assassin, and what I won't need to teach them because the Academy will have already covered it. This will help cut down on training time by not going over things they've already learned," he said.

Sarutobi thought about it for several moments, before nodding. "I suppose there is no harm in letting you see a general overview of the curriculum," he said, as he stood up and went over to one of the two bookcases in the office. Scanning it, he pulled out a book and handed it to Raphael. "This is the master copy of the curriculum guidebook given to Chuunin Instructor's at the Academy. It gives a general overview of what is being taught for each year group," he said, as went to sit back down. "Naturally there have been some prodigies in the past who have proven so skilled and advance, they skip years. But for the most part, that is what all our Academy students are learning currently."

Raphael nodded as he began to skim through the book, trying to get a general idea. He slowly frowned the more he read, before finally looking up, confused.

"Hokage-sama….there seems to be an awful lot of classes here based solely on academics and theoretical situations," he said. "Forgive me for my confusion, but I fail to see how these students are going to learn to be adequate shinobi when most of their classes are based around history, mathematics, and lectures. Shouldn't there be more practical classes, such as learning how to harness their chakra, various chakra control exercises, and such?" He asked

Sarutobi leaned forward, as he suddenly seemed to be more tired. "You would be right Raphael. And roughly five years ago, that's the way it was. The Academy was more focused on the actual physical training of the students. They were taught many of the aspects of being a shinobi in a more hands-on environment. The Academy had been that way since growing tensions between the Shinobi Villages began to rise, before leading to the First Shinobi War."

Raphael blinked. "Then what changed?" He asked.

"The Kyuubi attack is what changed things," Sarutobi said. "Konoha's standing shinobi force took heavy losses during the attack, and still more died or were forced to retire from crippling wounds in the aftermath. We had to try and maintain our strength, to not show any weakness should one of the other major villages take advantage of our weakness in the aftermath of the attack. Eventually, the Civilian Council put forth a proposition that the Academy's curriculum should be lessened; its standards lowered a bit. This would allow more students to join, train, and pass from the Academy, and thus build back up our numbers. It would be the Jounin instructors who would pick up the slack afterwards, training their genin students in what they needed to know to survive the shinobi world."

Raphael raised an eyebrow. "The Civilian Council suggested this? And does it work?" He asked.

Sarutobi was quiet, before pulling open a drawer and pulling out a file. As he opened it, he answered. "Before the Kyuubi attack, Konoha's Academy averaged maybe fourteen graduates a year, not counting prodigies who were apprenticed to others or skipped ahead. Of those graduates, at least one would probably die before entering their first Chuunin Exams. Out of fourteen, it was estimated that in between one to four of them would not live to retire during peace times. In war times, that number jumped to between three and eight. Now though, the Academy has graduated close to a hundred students in five years, using the new system. Of those students, seven of them died in their very first combat missions against bandits or enemy ninja. Another twenty were killed in later missions or Chuunin Exams. Six more have been forced to retire due to crippling injuries that prevent them from ever being successful shinobi. And a final group of five quit being shinobi due to traumatic experiences and memories. So out of one hundred shinobi, thirty eight either have died, were forced to retire, or quit the service," he said. "That's translating to roughly seven or eight shinobi dying each year, during peace times. I do not wish to even contemplate our losses if another Shinobi war broke out."

Raphael just stared at the file. "So it's obvious this new system is not working at all. You may be gaining more shinobi, but you're losing far more of them. If that is the case, why haven't you returned to the old Academy teaching methods?"

Sarutobi sighed quietly. "I suppose I could give you any number of excuses. But the sad truth is I have not been able to focus as much on internal problems. These past five years, I've been focused on keeping the image of Konoha's strength up. The shinobi world is in a constant state of 'cold war'. Even though no one is officially at war with each other, we treat each other as enemies. Alliances shift, spies infiltrate other villages, seeking information and weakness. Villages often flex their muscles by massing shinobi near the borders, before retreating, to see how another village will respond. I have been keeping the other villages from sensing our weakness and striking at us. It is a careful balancing act, one that requires that the situation within Konoha be stable. And I do believe that the Civilian Council would not quietly give up this bit of control they have gained. As much as I am frustrated to admit it, the civilians of this village have grown powerful and important. It has been the money they earned that has sustained us while we rebuild our manpower."

Raphael studied the Hokage. "Do you think they seek to gain control in the village?"

Sarutobi sighed. "It is a possibility. Almost the majority of students in the Academy now are civilian born students. It is possible they wish to gain greater control through this, by flooding our ranks with shinobi who possibly will have a stronger loyalty to their civilian families then to the Village itself."

Raphael shook his head. "If that is the case Hokage-sama, then this doesn't seem like something you can put off. I do not mean to overstep my bounds here, but you cannot simply ignore this obvious problem. If I understand the way this village works, your Academy is the source of this village's military strength. If it is weak, the military is weak. If this cycle continues, Konoha will find itself swarmed with enemies and destroyed. Not to mention that the subpar training is resulting in the deaths of these genin. If you don't fix this situation, more will die."

Sarutobi stood up, anger etched on his face. "Do you not think I know this?! Do you not think every death weighs upon me!? I do not want to send these young people to die anymore then I want to send them to fight!"

Raphael sighed quietly as he stood up. "Then prove it," he said quietly. "Good day, Hokage-sama," he said, as he turned and left.

Sarutobi stood there, staring at the empty space Raphael had occupied, before slowly sitting down. He stared at the file before him, listing the causalities Konoha's teams had suffered over the past few years. He barely heard the door open, as his secretary quietly entered with a scroll.

"Hokage-sama, this report came in from the mission's office," she said. "Team 13 returned from their mission….and they report two of the genin were killed in action."

Sarutobi quietly took the report from her, not seeming to react in any way as he unrolled it. Yet as he read the report, his hands trembled a bit. Suddenly, he rolled the scroll back up and stood. "Inform all members of the Councils that there will be a meeting tomorrow afternoon. Then send out word that I want all the Academy instructors to report to my office immediately."

His secretary nodded and left, as Sarutobi clutched the report in his hands. He was not about to let anymore sacrifices be in vain. Not anymore. (2)

_Fire Country/River Country border_

Anko sighed as she followed two other chuunin and a jounin. They had been assigned a border patrol after Konoha had received reports about rogue ninjas operating in that area. Their mission was to try and corroborate those reports with actual evidence of missing nins in the area.

Anko hated missions like this. Not for what they were. She actually somewhat enjoyed hunting down missing nins, the thrill of entering combat. She was happy with the knowledge that she was potentially putting down criminals who could become huge, serious threats one day.

No, what she hated was being stuck out in the wild with other shinobi. And the reason for that was simple. It was because those other ninjas usually treated her like scum. Forcing her to do all the work in setting up camp, calling her derogatory words like 'Snake Whore' and 'traitor'. All because of the fact that she had been apprenticed to Orochimaru, perhaps the biggest and most infamous traitor to Konoha since Madara Uchiha.

Usually when in the village, Anko could keep away from people mocking her and hating her. She could get to a training ground and vent her anger, or slip into a bar and drink enough to numb the sting of their words. It seemed like no matter how hard she tried to prove her loyalty to Konoha, her past connection to the Snake Sannin would blot out efforts.

But out on a mission was a different story. Here she couldn't escape from the glares and hateful words. And what was worse was the fact that her comrades didn't seem to care too much on whether she survived or not.

The jounin raised a hand, signaling them all to stop. He pointed to a small clearing nearby. "We'll set up camp here," he said. "You two start setting up the tents," he said commanded, before almost glaring in Anko's direction. "And you. Get the firewood," he said.

Anko almost glared back. Any other ninja would have been sent with a partner to collect firewood, to watch each other's back, especially with potential enemies nearby. Her though? Not the case. Anko just headed off to follow orders, knowing the jounin would bring her up on charges of insubordination if she didn't.

Anko moved through the forest softly, picking up branches and other sticks for the fire as did. She didn't stray too far from the camp, just in case something happened.

As she reached down to pick up a branch, she tensed slightly, sensing a presence nearby. Standing up with the branch, she pretended to scan for more wood, using that time to scan for the presence. She finally found him crouching on a tree branch above and to the left of her. She slowly moved to grab another stick, before suddenly dropping them, grabbing a shuriken, and throwing it.

The figure easily dodged and landed on the ground, smirking. "Not bad, little kunoichi," the figure said, leering at her. Anko just faced the man, gripping a kunai. The figure before her was a tall lanky man wearing the uniform of a Iwa shinobi, but with a slashed Iwa headband. He smirked as he pulled out his own kunai. "Why don't you surrender? I'll make sure you have a good time before I kill you," he said.

Anko just growled. "Why don't you surrender? I'll make sure you can kiss your dick goodbye before I kill you," she growled.

The man shook his head. "Wrong choice, bitch," he said, before a weight smashed into Anko from behind, driving her to the ground.

Anko was slammed into the ground as whatever hit her wrapped a hand around her mouth, muffling her yells. A male voice spoke from behind. "You shouldn't have come out here alone, tree hugger."

The Iwa missing nin smirked. "Let's get out of here before the others come looking for her," he said, only to stop and blink, as if surprised by something. Then he dropped to his knees, followed by him falling face forward, a kunai buried in the back of his head. The figure holding Anko jerked, before falling away as well, as Anko whirled, seeing a missing Kumo nin laying on the ground with a shuriken in his neck.

"Looks like the plan worked," spoke the Leaf jounin, as he stepped out of the trees with the two chuunin. Anko blinked, before growling.

"You knew these two assholes were here?!" She screamed at him. The jounin gave her a blank look as the chuunin retrieved their weapons and the heads of the missing nins.

"I sensed them following us about ten minutes before I ordered the stop. I figured they would come out to attack one of us alone, so I sent you out as bait to lure them into the open. And it worked," he said.

Anko growled in anger. "You didn't think to maybe warn me or something?! They could have killed me!"

The jounin didn't even seem fazed. "I deemed it an acceptable risk, with acceptable potential losses," he said, as he turned back to camp.

Anko just stood there, staring at where the jounin at been, as a few tears threatened to fall, before she wiped them away. No. she wasn't going to cry again. They weren't going to break her. Ever. She angrily gathered up the wood she had collected and stormed back to camp, wanting nothing more than to get this mission over with.

_Konoha, the Next Day_

Raphael sighed quietly as he was making his way through the blacksmiths of Konoha. He was currently gauging the craftsmanship and abilities of the local blacksmiths, to see if any of them could possibly forge the weapons, armor, and equipment for future Assassin's. So far, his search had been in vain. While several of them probably could forge weapons like swords and crossbows, or light and flexible, but durable armor, none of them seemed to have the expertise that would be required to make the components for not only the hidden blade bracers, but also some of the weapon attachments for them, such as poison blade or poison dart launcher. It would seem that Raphael might have to look outside the village for someone to make these components.

As he rounded a corner, he blinked as he nearly ran into someone. He managed to move out of the way just in time, catching them as they stumbled a bit from almost running into him. "Whoa there, easy," he said, only to grin. "Yugito-san," he said.

Yugito smiled as she saw it was him she had almost run into. "Thanks for the save there," she said, adjusting the bags of groceries she was carrying. "What are you up to?"

Raphael shrugged. "Just wandering, mostly. I was actually seeing if any of the blacksmiths could possibly provide some components I might need for some things of mine. But most of them don't seem to have the capabilities. I think I might need to find someone outside of Konoha," he said.

Yugito smiled. "Well I'm sure you'll get what you'll need in time," she said. "You mind helping me? I think I took a little more than I could handle," she said, as one of the bags almost fell over.

Raphael nodded as he took it off her hands. When she had adjusted the other bags, she started to lead him back to the apartment she had rented to live in.

As they walked, they talked about things like training, and such, before Yugito spoke up. "So Raphael…Anko talked about how you were planning on recruiting others to become Assassins," she said.

Raphael nodded quietly. "I am. Why do you bring it up?"

Yugito shrugged. "I'm just curious as to who you're thinking about recruiting," she said.

Raphael looked down a bit. "It is not a simple choice," he said. "Being an Assassin isn't just simply being good at killing people stealthily. It means being committed to the goals and ideals of the Brotherhood. And living a life that can be very difficult sometimes."

Yugito blinked at that. "I see. And have you found anyone you think can accept that?"

Raphael grinned a bit. "Why are you so interested? Thinking of joining?"

The blonde female jinchuuriki shrugged. "I don't know….being a shinobi is all fine and such, but….well you, Anko, and Naruto are the only ones I really know. And maybe….from the way you describe it, being an Assassin sounds like doing something really important and meaningful. Something I'd like to do with my life," she said, looking down as she spoke the last part softly.

Raphael tilted his head a bit. "Yugito? Is something wrong?" He asked.

Yugito shook her head. "It's nothing," she said. She looked up as they arrived at her apartment. "Thanks for your help, but I got it from here," she said, taking her bag form him.

Raphael nodded. "It's no problem. See you for training tomorrow?" He asked. Yugito just smiled and nodded, as she headed into her apartment.

Meanwhile, Hiruzen Sarutobi watched as the various members of the Council gathered together in the Conference Room. As they sat down, he quietly lit his pipe, puffing on it a few times, before blowing some smoke out. He finally spoke to them all. "I've called this meeting to address an ongoing problem within Konoha. A problem that originally was believed to be a solution, but is now becoming a disaster," he said, as he as slowly scanned the room. "Five years ago, a proposal was made to increase Konoha's manpower by lowering the standards of Konoha's Shinobi Academy. This allowed more students to pass, and become shinobi of Konoha. At the time, it seemed like an excellent solution. However, I have come to the realization that such an action was folly."

There was murmuring amongst the Council Members, before Sarutobi's voice silenced them. "In the past five years, Konoha has suffered forty five percent losses in our shinobi ranks. Thirty eight percent of those losses occur amongst our genin and rookie chuunin. The remaining seven percent are amongst our ANBU and jounin sent on higher level missions. I have come to the conclusion that the substandard teachings of Konoha's Academy can no longer continue. As such, the original curriculum will be restored at the beginning of the next Academy year."

Almost immediately, one of the Civilian Council Members spoke up. "Hokage-sama, you cannot just do that! Any decision must be voted upon! We let it slide when you sent that Assassin to Kumo, and granted amnesty to that jinchuuriki, but this is not something you can simply decide for yourself! The Nidaime Hokage-."

"The Nidaime Hokage was a fool for allowing Civilians to have as much say as they do in Konoha!" Sarutobi snapped, silencing the Civilian Council member and causing many to stare at Sarutobi in shock. He had always spoken so warmly of his sensei in the past. "My sensei was a fool allowing Civilians to have a say in Shinobi matters. None of you know what Shinobi life is like. You are not the ones who have to risk your lives in order to bring money into this village and protect it from its enemies!"

As the Council member sat down, cowed by the angry Sandaime, the elderly Hokage continued. "This village, despite our attempts at diplomacy and peaceful solutions, is still a Shinobi village. A military village. As the leader of the military forces, I have absolute command over the shinobi of this village, and the utilities attached to the shinobi, such as the Academy!"

Another Civilian Council member spoke up. "Hokage-sama, be reasonable. The funds required for such an endeavor are-."

"I've already allocated funds towards reworking the Academy from several projects around the city that are currently unnecessary, such as the expansion of civilian housing complex's into areas meant for the training of this village's shinobi," Sarutobi said. "The money funding those expansions was originally meant for the Academy, before your proposal was put into action. It only seems fitting that the money goes back to where it should have stayed."

At this, the Civilian Council became quite, though one could tell from their body language that they weren't happy. Ever since the Nidaime Hokage, Tobirama Senju, had taken control of the village, he had allowed the civilians of the village to have more of a voice in Konoha. He felt that they should be allowed to have a say in how the village was run, since they lived in it too. It also helped that at the time, the civilians were willing to back him on most of his decisions. Decisions that seemed intent on keeping the Uchiha clan at an arms distance from the rest of the village.

Since then, the civilians had slowly been seeking to expand their power. In their minds, it was only fair that they should have equal say in everything that happened in Konoha. There were a lot more civilians in Konoha then there were shinobi. It was their businesses that had funded the village through the periods of war and reconstruction. And in their minds, it was their children making the greatest sacrifice for Konoha, not the spoiled brats of Konoha's shinobi clans.

It had taken them years to get this far, slowly building their influence, expanding their power. Sadly, their efforts had been set back by the Yondaime Hokage. He had seen the danger, and had moved to stop them. It had only been his death at the hands of the Kyuubi that had prevented him from destroying their plans altogether.

Their greatest achievement had been lowering the standards of Konoha's Academy, allowing them to gain greater influence there. The more civilian born shinobi who graduated from the Academy, the better. They believed that they could influence those shinobi, playing on their love and loyalty to their families to influence shinobi affairs.

Now, that plan lay in ruins as well, as Sarutobi began to outline his plan for restructuring the Academy. "Due to the fact that we are nearing the end of the Academy year, the current graduating class will take a crash course of classes during the break months between Academy years. The year below them will do the same as well. The new Academy year is when everyone will start learning from the original curriculum. I've already talked to the Academy instructors about this, and I've also talked to several jounin, who will conduct the summer classes. Everything has been taken care of."

Tsume Inuzuka spoke up at this point. "Hokage-sama, may I ask what has triggered this sudden change?" She asked.

Sarutobi became silent, smoking his pipe for a few moments, before answering. "I was having a discussion with someone, about this situation. When that discussion ended, I was handed a scroll regarding a mission report from Team 13. They had returned from a mission to escort a trade convoy to the Land of Rivers. During the mission, they were ambushed by a group of ronin samurai and bandits, led by a chuunin missing nin from Kusa. During the conflict, the two male members of Team 13 were killed. Genin Takagi Hiromoto was slain defending his kunoichi teammate, who had been injured by the bandit she had been fighting. Genin Oroku Yoshi was overwhelmed by bandits, before his jounin sensei could reach him."

Several of the people in the room lowered their heads, as Sarutobi continued. "Team 13 came into action at the end of the previous Academy year. Takagi Hiromoto was the Rookie of the year of his class. They have been active for eight months, but it is in only the past two that they have begun taking low C-ranked missions. This was their third one, and the second in which they experienced combat. In the first one, their kunoichi teammate, genin Shigeru Naga, was wounded badly by an arrow fired by a bandit, and had to be removed from active duty for two weeks. Both her teammates also suffered wounds, but they were easily treatable."

"In comparison, most Konoha genin teams first entering combat under the old style of training were more than capable of defending themselves against bandits. They were trained and trained until their movements in combat became instinctive. It is this training that saved lives and which I wish to return to the Academy. I am tired of watching parents bury their children. I can no longer sit idly by and see these bright young lives be extinguished."

With almost the entirety of the Council humbled and quieted, Sarutobi put out his pipe. "From this day forth, the matters of shinobi will be handled by shinobi. The Civilian Council will be informed of anything that concerns them. But no longer will I allow military actions be dictated by those who have not once had to fight to defend their lives, or the lives of their friends and comrades. Is that understood?" He asked.

As almost everyone quietly nodded, Sarutobi stood up. "Dismissed," he said, before leaving the room, leaving the stunned Council behind. No one seemed to notice the momentary glint of approval that appeared in Danzou's one good eye, before they all slowly left the room.

_Training Ground 4, Three Days later_

Raphael yawned a bit as he headed towards the training ground for his daily training with Naruto, and to practice his own abilities. Today he was considering showing Naruto how to disarm opponents wielding weapons, something that would probably be very handy if anyone came after him with a kunai or sword. As he approached though, he was surprised and happy to see Anko was back from her mission. He eagerly moved forward, only to slow down when he noticed her posture. He slowly approached her, and gently touched her shoulder.

Anko had been in a somewhat depressed state ever since her return the previous night. Her jounin commander had filed a mission report claiming she had been little to no help in defeating the rogue ninjas they had been sent after, and had claimed the bounty on their heads, along with the other two chuunin. They had gotten nice big bonus checks, while all she got was the payment for the mission. But what was worse was the smug look of contempt on the jounin's face the whole time.

Anko looked up suddenly when she felt a hand on her shoulder, her right hand about to launch a kunai at the one touching her. But she stopped when she saw Raphael's concerned face. "Oh, Raphael! I didn't hear you," she said, trying to put on a smile. "You ready for another dose of hell?" she asked with a grin.

Raphael blinked, seeing her obviously fake grin. "Anko, what's wrong?" He asked quietly.

Anko blinked. "What's wrong? What's wrong is you're not getting ready to train!" She said.

Raphael just sighed as he placed his hands on her shoulders. "Anko, I saw the way you were standing there. I know something's wrong, so you don't have to hide it from me," he said.

Anko bit her lip, looking away. "I-It's nothing," she said. "We should get ready for the gaki to arrive, okay?"

Raphael didn't release her. "You know you can talk to me about anything. I'm here if you need me," he said softly.

Anko trembled a bit, looking down, before she quietly began to relate to him everything that had happened on the mission.

When she finished, Raphael growled a bit in anger. "_Ese hijo de puta,_" he growled out in his native Spanish, before continuing in one long rant. Anko just stared at him as he ranted in what she assumed was his native language. She tilted her head, catching a few words like '_maldito seo'_,'_tonto'_ and ' _joder'_.When Anko blinked at him, he shook his head. "It's nothing," he said. "Why didn't you tell the Hokage what happened?"

Anko sighed. "Because it wouldn't matter. Do you think getting one jounin in trouble will change their minds about me?"

Raphael blinked. "Why do they dislike you?" He asked. "I've heard them call you things like 'traitor's apprentice' and such. Why do they call you that?"

Anko looked at him, before looking down. She was silent for several moments, before finally speaking. "I guess it's only fair," she said softly. "You've shared your life history with me. I should share mine with you." She took a deep breath before speaking. "When I graduated from the Academy, I attracted the eye of the Snake Sannin, Orochimaru. He took me on as his apprentice, something that I was ecstatic about. He was one of the three legendary Sannin, the strongest ninja in the village below the Hokage. To be his apprentice was a great honor."

She closed her eyes, taking a deep breath. "Unfortunately, Orochimaru was not everything I thought he was. It was later found out that he had been conducting horrible and inhumane experiments, on shinobi and citizens of Konoha. When he was found out, he escaped, bringing me along on a 'special mission'. The last thing I remember was us heading out northeast, and then the next thing I know is being rescued from some lab by an ANBU patrol almost a year later. I was brought back here and interrogated on everything Orochimaru was planning, what he had done. And I knew nothing. He hadn't shared any of his plans, and I couldn't remember anything. Or rather…I didn't want to remember. Inoichi Yamanaka say's that whatever happened was traumatic enough to cause my brain to suppress it."

Raphael slowly reached out and touched her shoulder, causing her to look up and smile weakly at him. That smile faded when she slowly touched her left shoulder near her neck. "When I was brought up to date on what exactly my bastard of a sensei did to me…I was also informed of a small 'gift' he left me with," she said, slowly moving her hand so he could see. He blinked, as he saw what looked like three tomoes in a circle formation, surrounded by what looked like a binding seal of some sort.

"What is it?" he asked her softly. She looked down.

"The brand that everyone claims is proof of my attachment to my sensei. Hokage-sama called it the Curse Seal. Apparently, after going through the bastard's notes, he found entries about it. It's suppose to give the bearer incredible power, but at the cost of practically enslaving them to his will. It was sealed away so it couldn't influence me, but the people and shinobi of the village, still eager for a scapegoat to blame the loss of loved ones on, say it's proof that I am a spy and a traitor, just waiting to join my former master. This mark means I am forever tainted by him," she said quietly, looking down.

Raphael saw the despair and anger in Anko's body posture, and in her face. Quietly, he tilted her face so that she was looking at him, and smiled quietly. "That's only if you believe what they tell you as true," he said quietly. "I however, believe you to be a loyal ninja of this village, an ally I'd want watching my back in a fight, and an excellent friend to have at my side."

Anko's eyes widened, as she blushed lightly at what he said, before looking away. "Flatterer," she muttered, trying to hide the pink hue at her cheeks.

Raphael just smiled as he stood up. "I do believe we're supposed to be training? If you feel up to it," he said, offering her his hand.

Anko took it, before getting a sly grin and suddenly Raphael found himself pinned face down to the ground, with her holding his arm behind his back. "I thought I taught you better than this," she said with her usual cocky grin.

Raphael just grinned back, suddenly poofing into a log as Anko felt someone poke the back of her head. "You did in fact," Raphael said, as Anko pouted. The two laughed as they kept mock sparring, waiting for Naruto.

_Training Ground 8, six months later_

Raphael took a deep breath as he looked at the three people before him. He had called Anko, Naruto, and Yugito here to this training ground because he had finally decided it was time to offer each of them the chance of becoming Assassin's.

The rate of Naruto's training had been phenomenal. Once you had his attention, and you helped him to understand what it was exactly he was learning or training in, Naruto threw everything he had into his training. The boy was ready to overcome any challenge thrown his way, and refused to give up in the face of adversity. He was becoming very proficient in the taijutsu Raphael taught him, which Anko had dubbed '_Asashin no Ken_', or 'Assassin Fist'. He still had quite a bit to learn before he could match Raphael, but he was no longer the brawler Raphael had watched take on three bullies. He was also becoming skilled in chess. While he still was working on his long term strategic thinking, he had proven to be very skilled at strategizing in the here and now. Often he could come up with strategies quickly in reaction to Raphael's movements.

Anko had also continued to teach Naruto as well about chakra. She had taught him how to draw upon it, and had started him on a very basic control exercise. She had him try to keep a leaf attached to his forehead without blowing it off. It had taken Naruto two weeks and three days to finally stop shooting the leaf across the training field, and another three days after that to get it to stick to his forehead for over five minutes. After that, Anko had taught him how to expand his reserves through both physical training and meditation.

Yugito had also begun training in the new taijutsu style, incorporating it with her agility and flexibility, as well as the two katars that were her primary weapons. She had also started to learn free running and parkour like Anko was from Raphael. As for her shinobi career, she had been promoted to full chuunin, and had gone on several C ranked missions already.

Anko had started to hang out a lot more with Raphael after their little talk a few months ago. She had come to greatly enjoy her time with Raphael, as she didn't feel burdened in any way with him. He knew the truth about her past, something that had turned many away from her. And he didn't care. He had accepted her, despite knowing her past. That was something so few others had done. Literally, she could count the number of people who had done the same as Raphael on one hand.

Now, they were gathered before him. Naruto was excited because in one month he'd be going to the Shinobi Academy, where not only would he get to learn to be a shinobi, but he'd get to hang out with kids his own age. He was eager to try and make some friends, if he could.

Raphael smiled, as he started to speak. "Thank you for coming to see me. I'm going to cut to the chase, and let you all know that I asked you to be here for a very important reason."

This got their attention, as he continued. "As the three of you know, when I'm not training with you all, I've been on one or two assassinations outside the village. During those missions, I began to set up a rudimentary network of spies and informants, who can relay information back to me on people who are potential targets in the future. It's nothing big right now, as most of my missions have been within the Land of Fire. But still, it's made me realize that it's time for me to expand. I cannot handle everything anymore. I need to recruit others into the Brotherhood," he said. "And that's why I have called you three here now."

Naruto's eyes widened. "You want to make us Assassins?" He asked, looking both excited and surprised.

Raphael chuckled softly. "Yes and no Naruto. I want to make you Assassin recruits. You'd be learning how to be Assassins. But you'd be free to leave at any time, if you felt that the life of an Assassin isn't the type of life you'd want to live. And before you say anything," he said, interrupting the shout of excitement Naruto was about to yell out, "I want you to understand something. Being an Assassin is not simply learning how to fight with a bunch of fancy weapons. It means you'll be living a life that is dedicated to the Assassins. You'll be learning our beliefs and principles. You'll be living a life dedicated to our cause. A life filled with contradictions, hatred, and with death. As an Assassin, you'll need to be ready to kill people, to fight for your lives, and perhaps die during a mission or battle. If you cannot accept all of that, I understand," he said.

The three of them looked at each other, before Naruto spoke up. "Won't I be living that type of life as a shinobi?" He asked, looking at Anko. "Isn't everything he just said the way life is for you? Or for Yugito nee-chan?"

Anko and Yugito both nodded. "In many ways Naruto, yes it is. Shinobi fight, kill, and die for their villages. They are dedicated to protecting their home, and keeping it strong. If what Raphael says is true, then being an Assassin will be like being a shinobi," Anko said.

Naruto nodded. "Then I want to be an Assassin. You told me about how the Assassins were dedicated to protecting people from those who wanted to enslave them or start wars and stuff, right Raphael-san? Well I want to do that. I want to help people like you helped me," he said.

Yugito grinned, rubbing Naruto's head. "I also want to join up," she said. "Shinobi end up bleeding and dying for their village, just so that the village can get a bigger paycheck. As an Assassin, my actions and sacrifice can have some meaning. After what I've seen and been through, I want to make sure the life I live is one that has meaning."

Raphael nodded quietly. He still had never found out why exactly Yugito had betrayed Kumo. It was a very touchy subject with her still, so he had left it alone.

Anko was the final one to speak up. "When my sensei betrayed me…this village all but turned its back on me. Almost everyone wouldn't care if I died. In fact, some would probably be happy to do me in themselves," she said softly. "In the seven months I've spent training with each of you, talking with you, I've felt closer and more bonded then I have with anyone else in this village, save for my friend Kurenai. I'm not going to lose that now," she said. "I'll join your Brotherhood, Raphael," she said.

Raphael smiled. "Then welcome, my new recruits, to the Brotherhood of Assassin's."

* * *

**And scene…I HATE MYSELF! *sad crying face***

**Ugghh, I hate myself for taking so long on writing this chapter. And I hate myself for constantly second guessing on whether this chapter is any good or not! Because honestly, I feel that some parts are, and some parts aren't. **

**But, here it finally is. Anko, Yugito, and Naruto have become the first recruits of the Assassin's Brotherhood. I hope you all like it. *nods***

**Translations**

_Ese hijo de puta _= That son of a bitch.

_Maldito seo_= Cursed be

_Tonto_= insulting version of stupid

_Joder_= Fuck

**Special thanks go to Bill Alain and Uzumaki Ricky for the translations.**

**1. I just recently found this out, while I was typing up this chapter. Apparently, the academy is part of the same group of buildings that includes the Hokage's Main Office. That's right folks. This whole time, the Hokage's Tower and the Academy have been part of the same group of buildings. If any of you knew about this beforehand, I'd love to hear you say so, because this is surprise to me. I always thought the academy was in another part of the village. Now if you're wondering why I didn't do that here in this fanfic, the reason is simple: it makes no sense to me. Why on earth would you have a bunch of wild brats learning how to be shinobi in the same complex of buildings that you put your administrative offices and Council meeting rooms in? Where diplomats and foreign leaders will often come to negotiate alliances or truces, and sign trade agreements? It's BEGGING for trouble.**

**2. Now before the reviews start pouring in and you all start yelling at me let me explain. First off, everything I did there involving the Konoha's curriculum, as well as the casualties, is completely made up. I did it though because I honestly do feel like Konoha's Academy is subpar. The majority of scenes we were shown involving the Academy had them sitting in classrooms listening to lectures. That is not how you train people to go out and fight and kill people. You train them through practice and experience. You drill them in staged combat till they're able to fight on instinct alone. You teach them the abilities they'll need to survive. You do not lecture to them about how throwing a kunai at 32 degrees will allow you to kill an enemy shinobi who is twenty five meters away. That is the point I was trying to prove.**

**And yes, I did, to a degree, take away Sarutobi's backbone and have an OC give it back to him. It's a cliché plot point, it's not exactly a good one, and I'm sorry for that. But I would point out that the situation I described is a very real possibility in the Naruto world. The situation of the Elemental Nations is exactly like the situation of our world now and days. The Leaders of our countries have to play a careful balancing game in which they keep their countries from looking weak, but also do not antagonize other countries. Because if one of them slips up, another world war could end up obliterating the entire Earth. It's the same for the Shinobi Villages. One political misstep and the entire Shinobi World enters yet another war. **

**With Sarutobi stuck in a situation like this, where he has to keep up Konoha's appearance of strength, he cannot have time to deal with all the problems inside the village as well. If he does not handle the external problems, the internal ones won't matter because there won't be a village left to worry about. That is why Sarutobi, at first, didn't handle the Academy problem. But now that Raphael has forced him to face that problem, he's realized that it has to be handled now, or the very problems he is trying to stop will come to pass.**

**Even more special thanks goes to my beta's, Bill Alain and Kyuubi123, as well as my friend SneakyDevil, for helping me with some thoughts and ideas involving Anko and Yugito joining the Brotherhood.**

**Now please read and review. *nods***


	6. Students

**Welcome to another chapter of Shinobi's Creed. I'm glad so many of you enjoyed the last chapter. I honestly thought I had screwed it up, but apparently not. That makes me happy.**

**So now, Raphael has recruited his first three Assassin recruits. We'll have to see how they adjust to life as both shinobi, and Assassins now, won't we?**

**Also, got an ad here. Lt. Cmdr. Radner has two Harry Potter challenges for anyone who is interested. One is a Harry Potter/Gremlins crossover, where Hargrid, during a trip to America, buys Gizmo for Harry. The other is an AU universe Harry Potter where the death of Voldemort causes a rip to a parallel universe where Tom riddle, who never became a Dark Lord, ends up being pulled into the normal Harry Potter universe.**

**If you want more details, or to accept the challenges, please contact Lt. Cmdr. Radner, okay?**

**So, without further ado, let's begin the next chapter.**

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto or Assassin's Creed. They are the property of Masashi Kishimoto and Ubisoft. I am merely writing a nonprofit fanfic for my own enjoyment. Stupid legal bullcrap.

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**Students**

In Training Ground 4, four figures were undergoing training. Each of them was wearing a hooded outfit. Raphael was watching his three recruits training. Anko and Yugito had begun adapting the **Asashin no Ken** to their own taijutsu styles, and were practicing with each other, as Naruto practiced against a wooden training dummy with moving parts. Each of them was also adjusting to their new Assassin recruit uniforms. The uniforms consisted of shinobi pants with zori sandals, and a long-sleeved tunic with the peaked hood that marked the Assassins.

Raphael had asked that at least during their training sessions as Assassins, they wear the recruit uniforms, to adjust to them. If and when they achieved the rank of full Assassin, they would be allowed to create their own Assassin uniform.

As he watched the three of them train, his line of thought went to the talk he had with the Hokage. Per their agreement, he had gone to discuss those he had recruited, in case the Hokage wished to make an exception.

_**Flashback**_

_Raphael quietly sat down in front of the Hokage's desk, as the aged leader read over the three files in front of him. Sarutobi looked at him._

"_I thank you for coming Raphael-san," he said. "I wanted to talk to you about the three people you've recruited into your brotherhood. I must admit I am a little…nervous about you recruiting both Naruto and Yugito-san," he said._

_Raphael raised an eyebrow at that. "May I ask why, Hokage-sama?" He asked. _

_Sarutobi took a deep breath as he gathered his thoughts. "Both of them are jinchuuriki, and thus are prime targets. Yugito even more so, since she is a defector from Kumo. As Assassins, they could be going on many missions that take them behind enemy lines. While I do not view them as weapons, I do view them as valuable shinobi and assets of Konoha's military force."_

_Raphael nodded. "I can see your point, Hokage-sama, but will they not still be in danger just going on regular missions? If anything, being jinchuuriki ensures that when they are skilled enough, they'll be deployed on missions involving lots of combat against bandits, missing nin, and enemy shinobi. How is that any different to them working as Assassins?"_

_Sarutobi sat back. "You do raise a good point," he said quietly. "They both chose this path?"_

"_They did indeed, Hokage-sama. I told them what being an Assassin entailed. What their life would become. In many ways, it's not so different from being a Shinobi. They both accepted willing. As did Anko," Raphael said with a bit of pride in his voice._

_Sarutobi smiled softly, before sitting back. "Alright then. I'll agree to them being members of your Brotherhood. So long as they do not betray this village."_

_Raphael slowly stood up. "Thank you Hokage-sama. Before I leave, may I ask a favor? I've been looking for a blacksmith or some other metal worker to help me craft the components necessary to create more of these," he said, holding up his right arm, showing off his hidden blade bracer. "So far, I've found none in this village who could do it, or who I thought was trustworthy enough not to start making and selling their own versions to other shinobi. I was wondering if you might know of anyone in or outside the village I could go to."_

_Sarutobi blinked, puffing lightly on the pipe he had pulled out and lit. He finally answered. "I can think of two," he said finally. "One is a not so well known weapon shop here in Konoha. They sell a variety of well-crafted weapons, as well as several unique, 'inventive weapons', but the extra quality has led to extra prices. As such, most shinobi go to most other weapons stores for cheaper equipment, since they usually buy in bulk. The other place would be the Land of Iron, far off to the north. I would suggest trying the place here in Konoha first. Go to the market, and head south down the main road, till you're almost to the training grounds. Then make a right, travel about thirty feet, and you should find a shop called Kurodzuru. That's the place you want," he said. (1)_

_Raphael nodded. "Thank you Hokage-sama. Good day," he said, as he left._

_**Flashback Ends**_

Raphael looked up as he saw Naruto sprawl on the ground near him. He grinned as he leaned over him. "Having fun?"

Naruto just groaned as he got up from Anko tripping him. "No," he said, wincing a bit as he had landed on a small, thankfully dull rock.

Raphael nodded to the two young women still sparring. "That's enough now! Bring it in," he said.

Anko and Yugito stopped, coming over to Raphael and Naruto. Raphael nodded to them. "I'm going to go look into a possible blacksmith to forge the components we need to make hidden blade bracers. When I get the parts, I'll begin showing you all how to construct, as well as maintain your hidden blades."

Naruto blinked. "Maintain?" He asked, not knowing what he meant.

Anko answered. "He means how to fix it and repair it," she said. "You know, to make sure they keep working."

Raphael nodded. "Exactly. Now tomorrow, Naruto starts the Academy. So your physical training will be handled over the weekends. After the Academy though, we'll continue your mental lessons. Understood?"

Naruto nodded, looking a bit nervous. "I-I understand," he said.

Anko smiled, pulling his hood down and ruffling his hair. "Don't worry about it gaki, you'll be a natural," she said, while he glared at her and tried to fix his hair. "Little bit of advice though? Don't be a show boat. You'll just make the other kids angry."

"Actually, that's sound advice. Naruto, there is a bit of Assassin training you can do while in the Academy," the Assassin said, stroking his chin a bit in thought.

Naruto nodded eagerly at this. "Yes? What kind of training?" He asked.

Raphael smiled. "It's a mixture of training you in being discreet, and being deceptive. Traits you'll need as a shinobi and an Assassin. I don't want you to draw too much attention to yourself, alright? I want you to hold back in the academy. Not a whole lot. Just try to…blend in with the students who are roughly average in their ability," he explained.

Naruto blinked. "But why? Shouldn't I try to be the best?" He asked, confused.

Raphael nodded. "Oh yes, you should train to be the best. But if you try really hard and get everyone's attention, then they'll all be watching you. Everyone's attention will be on you, and so you won't be being discreet, will you? And that's what an Assassin needs to be. Not to mention, if you show everyone your best skills, then they'll know about them, and you won't have any surprises, will you? It's better to have a hidden skill, so you can surprise your enemies in fights and such."

Naruto's eyes widened in understanding. "I understand," he said. "So I want to try and be average, so no one will really notice me?"

Raphael grinned. "Exactly. That way, you can surprise your enemies if need be. And also…try to make some friends your own age, okay?" he asked.

Naruto looked down a bit. "I-I'll try, but…everyone's parents always keep them away from me," he said.

Yugito looked at Raphael and Anko. She still had not been informed of Naruto's burden, mostly as a security precaution the Hokage had set in place. Anko though quietly hugged Naruto. "They're all just jerks," she said softly. "I'm sure once the kids see you, you'll make friends in a heartbeat," she said.

"Anko's right," Raphael added. "Besides, you remember that girl you saved from those bullies? When we first met? I'll bet she's in the Academy."

Naruto blinked and a small smile appeared on his face. "You think she'll want to be my friend?" He asked excitedly.

Yugito grinned. "I know if someone saved me from bullies, I'd want to be their friend," she said. "Why don't you keep an eye out for her tomorrow, okay?"

Naruto nodded eagerly, as Raphael grinned. "Alright then. Why don't you get home and get ready for tomorrow? And remember, wear normal clothes while in the Academy. Don't want to draw attention to yourself."

The young blonde nodded in understanding. "You got it Raphael-sensei! C'mon Tomo, time to go home!" He called to the small fox kit, who yipped eagerly and rushed over to Naruto, hopping up in the small backpack that had become his carrying case. Naruto slipped the backpack on and rushed off towards home, as the three older people smiled.

"He's going to run those teachers ragged," Anko said with a smirk. Raphael just chuckled softly.

Yugito, meanwhile, was checking the position of the sun. "I better get going too. I've been assigned a routine patrol around the village with a couple other chuunin tomorrow. Need to go get ready for it."

Anko and Raphael nodded to her, and Yugito quickly left, leaving the pair alone. Anko grinned at Raphael.

"Well, I should be off to. I hear a plate of dango calling my name," Anko said with a grin.

Raphael chuckled. "You and your dango. You eat anything else?" He asked.

She smirked. "Maybe. You'll just have to find out," she said, as she turned and left.

Raphael just chuckled to himself, shaking his head as he went off to find the blacksmith Sarutobi was talking about.

After thirty minutes of walking and a couple wrong turns, he found himself outside of a rather non-descript building. The only thing that really stood out from the ones on either side of it was the wooden sign with a black crane on it. Raphael grinned as he entered.

He found himself in a rather large main room, filled with shelves and racks of weapons. The walls were lined with various long and large swords, axes, poled weapons, and chain based weapons. Armor mannequins held various pieces of both shinobi and samurai armor. Barrels were filled with smaller swords and weapons. There was a greater variety of weapons here than in any of the other blacksmiths Raphael had been in so far.

Raphael headed to the counter, where a bell was. Not seeing anyone present, he saw the bell, and rang it. "Anyone there?"

There was some clattering; a few muttered curses, and then a figure stumbled out from the back room. The figure was stocky, with shoulder length dirty blonde hair pulled back into a ponytail. He was wearing a studded leather apron, pants and boots, and heavy leather gloves, with a pair of goggles over his eyes. His entire muscular frame was covered in soot.

The man was coughing a bit, as he raised his goggles from eyes, revealing brown eyes. "Sorry about that," he said, patting his leather apron, removing his gloves. "Names Ganzo, proprietor of this shop," he said, holding out his hand. (2)

Raphael nodded. "Raphael. I was told you might be able to help me with something," he said.

Ganzo raised an eyebrow. "Oh? Is that so?" He asked. "And what, may I ask, do you need help with?"

Raphael looked around. "Can you promise me that you won't share the secrets of what I'm going to show you with anyone else?" He asked. "Otherwise, I'm leaving. What I need help with is something I don't want others to know about or be able to utilize. Alright?"

Ganzo nodded. "Alright. Client-blacksmith confidentiality," he said.

Raphael slowly undid his right bracer and slid it off, before laying it upside down, so the hidden blade components, as well as the other weapon attachments, were exposed. He then did the same with his left hand bracer, which only had the hidden blade component. "I need you to build me the various parts I need to make more of these," he said.

Ganzo's eyes widened, as he slowly picked the right one up. "What is this?" He asked in some awe.

"It's a hidden blade bracer," Raphael responded. "It contains a stabbing blade roughly one foot in length, which is retracted into this mechanism here, and released by flexing the forearm muscle and pressing a release button with said muscle. There is also a poison blade here, which is activated the same way, after flipping this switch here. Rounding it out are a spring loaded poison dart launcher, and a hidden pistol." (3)

Ganzo looked up. "Hidden pistol? What is that?"

Raphael chuckled. "A weapon that utilizes explosive powder and small projectiles," he said.

Ganzo blinked at that, one hand going to the stubble around his chin. "I see…the explosive force would cause the projectile to travel at tremendous force and speed. But how can you do it without blowing your arm off?"

"Perhaps we can discuss that another time," Raphael said, as he began to undo the weapon attachments on the braces. For now, I'd like to see if you can make the components necessary to build more of the hidden blades, the poison blade, and the dart launcher," he said. Having been trained in repairing and maintain his hidden blades, Raphael easily took them apart, showing Ganzo the various pieces and mechanisms required. "Think you can do it?"

Ganzo just grinned. "Oh I think I want to give it a try! This should be an excellent challenge!" He said, eagerly grabbing a scroll, brush, and ink pot, and began taking notes and measurements. "Now do you want me to just make the components, or put it all together?" He asked.

Raphael watched him as he took his notes. "Just make the components please. I'll need to teach the ones I'm going to be giving these too how to build and repair them."

Ganzo nodded as he finished taking notes. "And how many do you want?"

"Enough to make six of the hidden blades, and three of the poison blades and dart launchers," he said. "I'll also need six bracers, either leather or metal," he said.

Ganzo smirked. "You got it. This should probably take me about a week, maybe two. Check with me in eight days," he said. "In the meantime, feel free to check my wares out here. Or…I have some more 'unique' pieces in the back."

Raphael chuckled as he put the bracers back together again, and slid them back on. "Thanks, but I think I'm good. How much do you think this will all cost?" He asked.

Ganzo waved his hand. "I don't have an exact price. I'd say maybe thirty-thousand ryo altogether," he said.

Raphael smiled. "Well then, thank you for this. And I'll see you in a week," he said, as he headed off.

Ganzo chuckled as he took his notes into the back with him. "This should be most interesting," he said, as he set to work.

_The Next Day_

Hiruzen Sarutobi smiled as he watched the eager crowd of young children who were gathering to enter the Academy. They were the newest students who wished to become shinobi of Konoha. They were gathered before the doors of the Academy, where Sarutobi himself stood to welcome them. Behind them were their parents, family members, or in certain cases, guardians.

Sarutobi held up his hands for silence, before beginning to speak. "Welcome! Welcome all of you to the beginning of the Academy year. I am truly honored to see so many of you here, who are eager to become shinobi of Konoha," he said. The children began to murmur excitedly. Sarutobi knew that within a couple of years, several of them would abandon the Academy, seeing that being a shinobi was not a glorious life of heroic adventures, but a life and death business with many tragedies. But those who did endure and graduate would become the proud defenders of this village.

"When you enter these doors, you are entering into a new world. One that will require dedication and endurance. Your fellow students around you will be your fellow comrades as you learn what it takes to be not just a ninja, but a shinobi of Konoha. And when you graduate, they will be your comrades in arms not just in the good times, but the bad times as well. Trust in yourselves, and each other!" He said, to cheers from the kids and the parents as well. With a smile, he stepped aside, as two of the chuunin instructors opened the doors. "Please give your names to one of these two instructors, and they'll tell you which classroom you'll be assigned to," he told the children.

As one, the children, excited by the stories told by their parents, or by the ideas of battling evil villains and being heroes, rushed forward to the chuunin. There were a few stragglers, either very nervous or more composed. As the students eagerly gave their names, and headed to their assigned rooms, Sarutobi turned to the parents and guardians.

"Before you all leave, I'd like to discuss the new curriculum that will begin this Academy year, so you know what we expect from your children," he said. "For the past few years, Konoha's Academy has been more focused on academic and theoretical lessons. It was believed that the jounin sensei would pick up the slack when they took their students. This year, that is going to change. The students, in their first year, will be introduced to the basics of being a shinobi, including ninjutsu, genjutsu, and taijutsu. They'll begin physical exercises to increase their physical strength, as well as chakra reserves. And they'll be taught how to feel their chakra, and access it. The years following will become more and more focused on physically and mentally training them to be shinobi, and in doing so, will remove those who are not fit for this lifestyle. This will include increased physical training, daily taijutsu spars with their classmates, chakra control exercises, constant combat, weapon, and stealth drills, and the teaching of the three basic ninjutsu techniques. We'll also be supplying the students with other basic ninjutsu techniques, which they'll be allowed to select from or suggested to train in. This will help us better understand where their skill sets are at. Also, beginning in their third year of training, they'll be assigned to randomly selected teams of three on every second and fourth Friday of the month, and will be given D-ranked missions here within Konoha. This will not only help us with the overabundance of D-ranked missions we do have, but also teach them the qualities of teamwork, and being able to work with different teammates. We will also use this to help determine which students work best with each other. There will be academic classes, but their focus will be more on subjects that enhance their abilities as shinobi, such as cryptography, cartography, diplomacy, and cultural recognition. Their last year, the students will attend classes that incorporate the darker side of being a shinobi, such as assassinations, interrogation, as well as the risks that come with their lifestyle. Afterwards, they'll undergo a final exam, and if they pass, they'll become genin of Konoha," he said. "Are there any questions?"

One of the civilian parents raised their hands. "What about the more generalized academic courses? What will you do with them?" When the Academy's standards were lowered, the Academy became a pseudo school, teaching things that normal children would learn in schools.

Sarutobi sighed. "Those classes will be kept in the first year, as we work on introducing the children to the world of Shinobi. However, they will become optional classes around the third year. At that point, all mandatory classes will be focused on training the students as Shinobi. If you wish for your children to learn advanced Academic courses, I suggest you either have them take the optional classes or you teach those things to them yourselves. We are here to teach these children to be shinobi, not scholars. Any other questions?"

There was some murmuring in the crowd, but no one else really spoke up. Sarutobi nodded to them. "Then thank you all for your time. Please return here at three in the afternoon to retrieve your children," he said, as he left with his ANBU escort.

In the crowd, Raphael grinned, nodding softly in approval before leaving.

Naruto, dressed in a white shirt with a red design and dark blue pants, grinned as he entered room 104, his assigned classroom. The classroom was constructed with stadium like seating, with their being three lines of desks, each capable of sitting three students. Naruto looked around the room, trying to find a good spot. Eventually he decided on a spot in the back, where he could observe everyone. He sat down, sighing softly as he looked at the various students in the room.

As he did, his eyes widened and he grinned as he saw a familiar figure enter the room.

Hinata Hyuuga shyly entered, hunching a bit as she felt the students in the room eyeing her. Things had not been good for the Hyuuga Heiress in recent months. When her father had been told about how she had been bullied and then rescued by the village pariah and a relatively unknown person, he had verbally chastised her in front of the entire clan, calling her weak and hopeless. Her mother had just stood by, not looking at her. She had run to her room when she was dismissed, crying her little eyes out on her bed. The following months were filled with hard drills and training, her father pushing her to her limits and verbally abusing her the whole time, destroying her confidence and will. Other members of the clan followed suit, or they flat out ignored her. The only one to try and comfort her was her mother, but only in the privacy of Hinata's room.

Now, Hinata found herself facing a bunch of unknown children. She was honestly very nervous, almost terrified. She moved towards the back, hoping to be ignored back there. She was about to sit down when a voice nearby startled her. "Hey Hinata!"

She squeaked and turned to the voice, only for her eyes to widen. It was the boy who had saved her from those bullies. And he was in her class. Hinata blushed as he smiled at her, waving her over. Shakily, she took a few steps towards him.

He smiled at her. "You're Hinata Hyuuga, right? That girl those jerks were messing with?"

She shakily nodded in response. "Y-Y-Yes. You…you're Naruto Uzumaki?"

He smiled. "Yep! That's me! You want to sit here next to me?"

She blinked. "R-really? You want me to?" She asked.

Naruto nodded. "Well yeah. It's nice to have a familiar face here. I'm kinda nervous, but really excited."

Hinata just blushed as she slowly sat down next to him. Naruto just grinned. "So, you excited about learning how to be a shinobi?" He asked.

Hinata just nodded a bit. "Y-Yes. Though…I'm really nervous," she said, admitting only a fraction of the truth.

Naruto grinned at her. "Don't worry! We'll both become the most awesome shinobi this village has ever since," he said.

Hinata's eyes widened and she blushed lightly, looking at her desk. "Y-You think so?" She asked quietly.

Naruto grinned. "You know it," he said.

At that moment, another student entered and sat next to Hinata. The two of them looked at this new student. The boy had a brown afro hairstyle, black sunglasses, and a coat whose collar covered his lower face.

Naruto smiled at him. "Hi, I'm Naruto Uzumaki," he said, as he leaned back and extended a hand to Shino. "Who are you?"

The boy glanced at Naruto, his face seeming very stoic. He finally answered in a monotone sounding voice. "Shino Aburame," he said quietly.

Naruto blinked. "Aburame? You're from that clan, right?" He asked. "The ones who use insects?" Anko had taught Naruto, as well as Raphael, about the various clans of Konoha, and their special bloodlines or techniques. The Aburame clan, from what Naruto understood, was able to use insects to attack their enemies. They were also known for being very quiet and not being very emotional.

Shino nodded quietly in response, before looking to Hinata. Hinata gulped a bit, as she introduced herself. "I-I'm Hinata Hyuuga," she whispered out.

Shino raised one eyebrow. "The Hyuuga Heiress?" He asked quietly.

Hinata nodded a bit weakly in response. "Y-Yes, that's me. A-and you're the son of t-the A-Aburame leader?"

Shino gave a single nod, as he turned his attention forward. The other students had entered, and now they waited for their teacher. They soon were rewarded by the door opening, and a female figure entering.

Kurenai scanned the room, looking over her students for the next year or two. Taking a deep breath, she smiled, adjusting her chuunin vest. "Welcome, all of you. I'm your chuunin instructor Kurenai Yuuhi, and I'll be teaching you for the next year or two. Before we get started, perhaps you'd all like to introduce yourselves?" She asked them all, pointing to one of the students at the front.

As that student stood up, the others grinned. Their adventure had begun.

Elsewhere, Yugito hummed as she waited at the main gate for the other chuunin who were part of her patrol. She was a few minutes early, which would explain why she was currently alone. Hearing approaching footsteps, she looked up in time to see a figure approach, dressed in the standard uniform of a chuunin. He had tanned skin, brown hair done up in a high pineapple style ponytail similar to Anko's, and a unique scar across his nose. He also appeared to be around her age.

He stopped as he neared him. "H-Hi there! You're Yugito-san, yes?" He asked a bit shyly.

Yugito raised an eyebrow. "I am. And you are?" She asked, trying to give him a disarming smile.

The man actually seemed to blush lightly. "O-Oh umm I..I'm-uh," he stuttered out.

Yugito raised an eyebrow. "Cat got your tongue?" She asked with a smile.

Iruka blushed more in embarrassment. "I'm Iruka Umino," he mumbled out, looking down a bit.

Yugito sighed. "I'm sorry if my presence makes you uncomfortable. I guess it's not easy being around a jinchuuriki and former Kumo kunoichi, yes?" She asked.

Iruka blinked. "N-No! That's not it at all," he said quickly. "I'm just, well…I'm nervous. This is my first patrol mission so I'm nervous something will happen and then add in the fact that there's a rather pretty girl and—!" His eyes went wide and he slammed his mouth shut. Yugito's eyes widened as a light blush went across her cheeks. She smiled teasingly as she approached.

"So, you think I'm pretty?" she asked with a grin. Iruka just began to babble until he was saved by two more people arriving. One was a chuunin with white shaggy hair and a bandana tied around his head. The other also had a bandana tied around his head, but it was reversed so the ties were in front. He also was chewing on a senbon.

"There you two are. My name's Genma Shiranui, and I'll be leading the patrol," he said. "You two are Iruka Umino and Yugito Nii?"

When they nodded, he pointed to their third member. "This is Mizuki Touji, the final member of the team. If you're all ready to go, let's get this started."

Each of the three chuunin nodded, and Genma smirked a bit before leading them out. As they jumped up into the trees and began tree hopping, Yugito glanced at Iruka, grinning a bit.

'_Mm, he is kinda cute too,_' she thought with a grin, as they headed off on their patrol route.

* * *

**And that's chapter folks. *sighs* I really wish I could get these out faster. Maybe longer as well.**

**I hope you all enjoyed this chapter. And I hope you'll continue to enjoy this story.**

**And again, if you're interested in either of the challenges listed at the beginning of this chapter, contact Lt. Cmdr. Radner for more information.**

**1. Kurodzuru means Black Crane**

**2. Ganzo means inventor.**

**3. No source has been clear on the exact mechanics of the hidden blade. No idea what really triggers it, or retracts it. So, I'm going with the one with the one that seems most consistent for the AC2, AC:B, and AC:R games. Which is the flexing of the arms releases the hidden blade.**

**Please review!**


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